MovieChat Forums > Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (2011) Discussion > Simin's behavior and motivation?

Simin's behavior and motivation?

posted 11 years ago by Singingorilla
1 reply | jump to latest

Did Simin tell her husband that Razieh told her that she got hit by the car? Is that why he asked her to swear on the Koran that he was the cause of her miscarriage? Why was he so intent on proving it wasn't his fault when he knew she was pregnant and he didn't know Razieh was hit by a a car, therefore understanding it could've been his fault?

I don't understand Simin's behavior at all throughout this film. I feel like her character was not fleshed out enough to understand her motivation for her actions. Does anyone else wish we had seen much more of their marriage before the seperation?

It seems everyone was keeping secrets.

[–] molypocho 11 years ago

I think she probably did tell her husband that Razieh was hit by the car.

Simin's character is fleshed out, just in very subtle tones. I think Simin and her husband still love each other, but Simin wants out of patriarchal Iran. Remember during the film's first scene when Simin says she doesn't want to raise her daughter in this environment? The mediator asks what's wrong with Iran, and Simin's response is unspoken, but her eyes tell you something like, "do I really have to explain myself? You know it will just get me in trouble." Also, remember how carelessly she wears her headscarf at the beginning of the film. It feels like she's going to shed it at any moment. Not to talk down to you, but in case you don't know, the head scarf has become a symbol of Islam's suppression of women.

There's a symbolical layer to this film. Nader's dying father symbolizes Iran's dying traditions. Simin represents the push into the modern world. Everybody else is somewhere in between. Just think about how lovingly Nader washes his father's decaying body.