Nader and Simin stand at a crossroads: while the woman wants to leave Iran with her daughter, her husband doesn’t and can’t because he is caring for his invalid father. An even more tragic event, however, burdens the troubled relationship and works its way into other people’s lives. The picture, which shows everyday life in a contemporary Iranian city, succeeds with exceptional naturalness in getting close to the protagonists, but does not abuse its success for the purposes of cheap melodrama. The director observes the characters with understanding and impartiality, but doesn’t shy away from probing their problems from all sides. The protagonists here are not driven by evil intentions, rather they are swept up by circumstance or pushed by a desire for what seems just in their own eyes. The conflicts are not artificially aggravated and yet they are full of tension, perhaps because in the end there will be no winners and losers standing against each other, but simply people who, without exception, have been marked by this learning experience.