Great movie until the copout ending

[deleted]

I agree.
Some films work with an unresolved ending. I don't think this was one of them.

While you're right, in Western cinema ambiguity normally revolves around a certain philosophy or idea. Essentially they say something with their mere omission.

But these are story pieces and there are somewhat accepted structures to it and you can only take it so far without alienating western audiences (exemplified by this film) But films like A Separation are slices of life in the purest sense of the term. Ambiguity, from an exterior perspective, essentially exists in all situations.
Even in the most recorded of events, one never knows the full scope of personal detail, just our estimation of them. And more than that, we never know how it really ends, even if when it seems happily ever after.
I just think A Separation was trying to say there are shades of morality and sin and pride and fear, in all our decisions and actions. And that it's not always about the truth but sensibility. All of the above questions are devices used to portray that.

For some reason the film very much reminded me of the Korean mystery Memories of Murder.

I agree. At the same time, I thoroughly enjoyed the film and found a different kind of 'ambiguity' to be central to what made it good - not the ambiguous ending, which was a juvenile version of ambiguity, imho - as if self-consciously trying to turn the last scene (and thus the movie?) into a 'riddle'. It was too contrived and self-conscious as Ambiguous Ending.

What did come across powerfully was that each central character's moral character was 'ambiguous' - both positive and negative attributes or choices made (as the character). No cardboard, cookie-cutter depictions here. Each person feels vibrantly or anguishedly real and warranted both empathy and critique.

Oy, give me a break.

-Razieh's family is clearly in a terrible place. Do you really need to see Hojjat commit suicide/violence/get hauled into debtor's prison and his family live in poverty on the streets?
-Razieh had not miscarried at the time she saw the doctor, and it's not a sure thing that the doctor would know it if indeed the baby was already dead. More to the point, by the time this information came to light, the dispute had moved on from the legal system to the payment of blood money. Simin's reason for pursuing this was as much a fear of future violence as fear of prison for Nader.
-Nobody stole the money. Simin used it at the beginning of the film to pay some workers and Nader didn't realize it at the time.
-I assumed Termah chose her mother since among other things, Nader basically guilted his daughter into perjury. While her choice is not revealed, that she has to make a choice is a tragedy.

Really, the only information the remains withheld at the end is exactly what happened after Razieh was pushed out the door.

-Well, no I don't think he has committed suicide. He just became so upset. I don't think that is really important. Just know they're in a very bad situation.

-She knew she had miscarried but she didn't want to her husband find out.The question in movie is how did she miscarry it.

-No one did. Simin gave it to workers who moved the Piano.

-That is what the whole movie is about. Which way the next generation of Iran will choose? Running away or staying.

I thought that an open ending was perfect for a drama such as this, where nobody "wins", and everyone suffers. Anything else would have seemed arbitrary.

People hungry for the voice of god
Hear lunatics and liars

At first I was frustrated by the ending too, but I wouldn't call it a scam or cop out, however I don't like ambiguous endings at all but I loved everything about this movie. The more I think about it, and ths movie does make you think, the more clear the ending became to me. I don't think the man would have committed suicide, he was just enraged, broke the partition and their windshield to express his rage and that's as far as he was going to take it. He was not going to do anything else, the other characters weren't worried either, they didn't even mention it driving home. I think he promised to leave them alone anyway. That is the last time we need to see that character because he doesn't do anything else or take it any further. He is no longer a threat to anyone. The final scene shows the parents are not going to get back together by the way they sit apart and do not speak or make eye contact, they are finished and the divider (partition) symbolizes that. The way the camera stays on them so long leaves no doubt in my mind, they do not look at each other once, they both know it's over. The woman took the money out of the drawer to pay the movers (taking the piano) when she was leaving, they wanted more money because there was an extra floor so she said she would pay it. The husband didn't know this and blamed the missing money on the hired woman. They didn't have to show the daughter's decision, she is very broken up by everything, especially the end of her parents' marriage. I'm sure she would continue to live with her dad so her mom would not leave the country (she would not leave without her daughter). The point was not to show her choice which she has already made several times but to show how much all of the has taken a toll on her. It was not a hard decision for her to make because she made it more than once by that point. What was hard was to say it out loud with both her parents there. Razieh knew she lost the baby, or thst her pregnancy was in serious trouble, the reason she left the grandfather that day was probably an emergency medical appointment about losing the baby but she couldn't tell that to her male employer so we don't get to hear the reason she left him alone either. The first time she isn't feeling well is on the bus so she may have been having problems before. She was hiding how she lost the baby (and she couldn't say it was from being hit by a car while chasing the escaped grandfather because her husband didn't know she was working and taking their daughter with her, he thought they were both home). So really all the loose ends are tied up after all. This was an amazing movie, I was glued to the screen for every second of it. Actually on second thought maybe the daughter couldn't say which parent she wanted to live with because she changed her mind and now wanted to live with her mom because she couldn't live with the fact that her father lied about knowing the hired woman was pregnant. But she was still broken up not by her parents splitting for good but by the fact that her decision to live with her mom meant them leaving not just the dad but her entire country, her home, as well. I would have liked just that part to be more clear, which parent did she choose?! Any ideas, it could have gone either way now that I think about it. But the other questions were all answered by the film I thought. I loved this movie. My thought is that the daughter would still stay with the dad to keep her mom from leaving, it was the only way to keep them as together as she could. I think that would have been more important to her than the fact that her dad lied about knowing the woman was pregnant.

When you get up in the morning, how do you decide what shade of black to wear? (Shallow Grave)