Real world
- Iranian Family Law
- Class and Religion in Tehran
The plot runs entirely on Iranian legal and religious procedure, and none of it is explained, because none of it needs explaining to the people in it. From the system: a wife who cannot leave the country with her daughter without her husband's consent; a divorce granted only on specified grounds; a court in which the judge questions everyone directly with no lawyers; blood money as a settlement; and an oath sworn on the Quran that a religious woman cannot bring herself to perjure. Asghar Farhadi builds the film so that every character is telling a defensible version of the truth, and the pressure that makes them lie is class: the educated Tehran family and the poor, devout couple they hire are not operating under the same rules.