About Elly

A group of friends from Tehran spend a weekend by the Caspian Sea. Sepideh has invited Elly, her daughter's teacher, meaning to introduce her to Ahmad, a divorced friend. A child is pulled from the water just in time, and at the same moment Elly disappears. The group searches first the sea and then each other's accounts. Asghar Farhadi directed. As it unravels the film turns on the question of whose benefit the lies were told for: Sepideh's manipulation, the engagement Elly concealed, and everyone's reflex to protect their standing. Ninety-nine percent of 70 Rotten Tomatoes reviews are positive, with an 8.1 average. The film theorist David Bordwell described it as a study of the risks of telling lies to spare someone grief, and many critics compared its suspense to Hitchcock rather than to Iranian cinema. Farhadi won the Silver Bear for Best Director at Berlin. The film was Iran's Academy Award submission. Who it is for: viewers who like films that set a moral puzzle, and admirers of Farhadi. Who it is not for: anyone needing a definite answer. The film never says for certain what happened to Elly and leaves the argument standing.