“A seamless piece of ensemble filmmaking.” - Tribeca Film Festival jury

From within the straightjacket of a highly controlled film industry, Iranian visionary Asghar Farhadi (The Beautiful City, Fireworks Wednesday) miraculously emerges with an uncompromising chronicle of middle-class Iranian malaise.

A group of friends holidaying on the Caspian Sea play matchmaker between a divorcé and schoolteacher Elly. When she disappears, a sticky mess of seemingly innocuous deceits - some being the product of tarouf, a type of Persian cultural politeness - prove dire in their consequences.

One of the best Iranian films in years - and accordingly well-awarded at this year's Tribeca film festival - it's also the final one to feature Golshifteh Farahani, who inflamed controversy by appearing in Ridley Scott's Body of Evidence, in turn causing About Elly to be banned in Iran.

--- D/S Asghar Farhadi P Asghar Farhadi, Mahmoud Razavi WS DreamLab Films L Persian w/English subtitles TD 35mm/2009