There are those who simply want to live their lives, and feel they cannot live the way they want to in Iran. Others are ideologically motivated: They will stay no matter what and try to change things.

Famous film theorist and film critic David Bordwell has called About Elly a masterpiece. Asghar Farhadi (Persian: اصغر فرهادی‎ Persian pronunciation: [æsɣæɾ fæɾhɒːdiː]; born 1 January 1972) is an Iranian film director and screenwriter. On 15 January 2012 his movie A Separation won the Golden Globe for the Best Foreign Language Film.

He was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world by Time magazine in 2012. Asghar Farhadi (Persian: اصغر فرهادی‎ Persian pronunciation: [æsɣæɾ fæɾhɒːdiː]; born 1 January 1972) is an Iranian film director and screenwriter.