About Elly

ABOUT ELLY / DARABAEYE ELLY
Asghar Farhadi        
Iran, 2009, 119’       

WEBSITE
www.dreamlabfilms.com/aboutelly

AWARDS and FESTIVALS
Silver Berlin Bear for Best Director, Berlin International Film Festival, 2009
Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature of the 8th Tribeca Film Festival, 2009
Nominated for Oscar in the category of Best Foreign Language Film, 2010

PRESS QUOTE
“One of the most remarkable Iranian films to surface in the last few years, About Elly is a small but compelling ensemble piece of surprising depth.”.~ Lee Marshall

SYNOPSIS
After many years living in Germany, Ahmad is on a flying visit to Iran. His old university friends decide to organize three days together on the banks of the Caspian Sea.
One of the women in the group, the joyful Sepideh, has taken the trip’s planning into her own hands and,(unbeknownst to her colleagues) she has invited Elly, her daughter’s nursery school teacher.
Ahmad, having just disentangled himself from an unhappy German marriage, would like to settle down with an Iranian woman. Knowing this, the friends gradually realize as to why Sepideh has invited Elly. Their attention turns to her and each one in turn lauds her qualities.
On the second day, while everything seems to be going well, an incident occurs which leads to Elly’s disappearance. The joyful atmosphere evaporates and its harmony breaks down as the friends try to understand how and why she disappeared.
Elly’s family is contacted, but as they have no news of her, panic begins to set in. The friends start becoming judgmental and pick over the previous day’s conversations and Elly’s family phone calls, trying to find fault. Finally Sepideh is blamed for having invited Elly and thus ruining their holiday.
The group’s opinions of Elly veer from those of the first day, until at last when the truth is let out.