CIFF: About Elly

By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 9, 2009 6:20PM

This is part of Chicagoist's continuing coverage of the 45th Chicago International Film Festival.

Through November 1 the Siskel is presenting their 20th Annual Festival of Films from Iran, and it's chock full of challenging, illuminating and just plain entertaining fare. CIFF only has one film from Iran in their lineup, but About Elly is stellar. And it just happens to be that country's official selection for the Best Foreign Film competition in the 82nd Academy Awards.

A group of close-knit middle-class friends rent a crumbling seaside villa for a weekend holiday. Husbands, wives and even the recently divorced Ahmad all take turns looking after the three children among them. But there's a wild card in the bunch: a quiet young woman named Elly, a teacher invited to tag along by Sepideh, whose daughter is Elly's student. No one seems to know much about Elly or even bothers to ask. They only seem interested in her as a possible mate for Ahmad. He's not uninterested. But he's also embarrassed by his friends' crassness.

Though that's the setup, the story really gets going after a disappearance and possible downing. We won't spoil what happens next, but suffice to say the mysteries begin piling up. Every member of the group starts second-guessing each other, and the resulting layers of deceit and accusation only go to prove that the discreet charm of the bourgeoisie is universal.

Writer/director Asghar Farhadi's study of subtle cruelty and selfishness is gripping and believable. And unfortunately it isn't hard to imagine yourself in a similar situation. Without resorting to exaggeration, or even a music score, the film pulls into another culture surprisingly like our own.

About Elly screens October 10, 11, and 20.