Asghar Farhadi has made another film outside Iran, this time in Spain—Everybody Knows (Todos lo saben, 2018)—and it concerns a kidnapped girl. Its themes include the pervasiveness of that which is secret in families, when obligation leads to rupture, and belief in God.
I esteem Farhadi for giving us another tragic drama, but this is not as good as A Separation or The Salesman. Though skillfully directed and persuasively acted by Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem and many others, the film has a weak script with unlikely plot devices. Farhadi is a better writer than this, and probably it is time for him to use this particular talent in the traveling of a different but still serious path.
(In Spanish with English subtitles)
