About Elly

An undeniable masterstroke of contemporary world cinema.

In Asghar Farhadi’s taut psychological drama, Ahmad (Shahab Hosseini) returns to Tehran after living in Europe. Excited by his return, his friends organise an impromptu reunion on the Caspian Sea to reconnect and relax. Spirits are high as they set out with cars brimming with picnic hampers and happy children.

Effervescent mother hen Sepideh (Golshifteh Farahani) invites her daughters’ young schoolteacher Elly (Taraneh Alidoosti) to join them for the weekend. Elly is charming and seemingly a perfect match for the recently divorced Ahmad. While Sepideh busies herself playing Cupid, the party settle into their ramshackle holiday home, playing parlour games and reminiscing.

But when one of the group mysteriously goes missing, cracks form in the group’s perfect veneer as a seemingly harmless white lie leads each character to a reckoning that could destroy them all.

Winner of numerous international awards including the Silver Bear at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival.

– Kristy Matheson