This second film by director Asghar Farhadi (pictured, below right), whose 2009 film "About Elly" already received widespread attention, has been leading the box-office in France. Parisians have been lining up and many of the screenings have required advance reservations to guarantee seating. Not bad for an axis of evil country. With decent marketing here, the same response should be anticipated even though this movie will likely only play to New York and L.A.

Why so much eagerness about it? Because “Separation” has been doing exceptionally well with the critics. Le Monde called it “excellent” and La Croix said the movie was “breathtaking” and “fascinating.” And that’s just a sampling of the praise that the film has been showered with

Iranian cinema is about to get a whole lot more interesting with Asghar Farhadi’s “Nader & Simin: A separation,” which in theory should be shown in limited release in about two months in the U.S.

Shot in semi-clandestinity in Tehran, it tells the tale of a couple, on the verge of separation, who are ripped apart by a parent’s Alzheimer’s disease and a caretaker hired to help him make it through the debilitating disease. Class differences and the slow disintegration of the couple’s life seem to be the order of the day in this narrative.