A Separation Budget

What is the budget of A Separation?

"A Separation," a drama released in 2011, was directed by Asghar Farhadi and stars Leila Hatami, Payman Maadi. The production budget was $5,000,000, placing it in the low-budget range for drama productions of its era.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

While specific budget breakdowns are not publicly available, typical cost drivers for a drama production like this include:

• Above-the-Line Talent: Drama films live or die on the strength of their performances.
• Location Filming & Period Production Design: Authentic locations , whether contemporary or historical , require scouting, permits, travel, lodging, and often significant dressing to match the story's time period.
• Post-Production, Color Grading & Score: The editorial process for dramas is typically longer than genre films, with careful attention to pacing and tone.
• Production: The concept came from a number of personal experiences and abstract pictures which had been in Asghar Farhadi's mind for some time.

What were the major cost factors in A Separation?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "A Separation."

• Above-the-Line Talent: Above-the-Line Talent is one of the primary cost drivers in drama productions of this scale.
• Location Filming: Location Filming & Period Production Design is one of the primary cost drivers in drama productions of this scale.
• Post-Production: Post-Production, Color Grading & Score is one of the primary cost drivers in drama productions of this scale.

How Does A Separation's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $5,000,000, A Separation sits in the low-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

• Come and See (1985): Budget $5,000,000, Worldwide Gross $20,929,648
• Cinema Paradiso (1988): Budget $5,000,000, Worldwide Gross $35,962,062
• Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985): Budget $5,000,000 , Gross $502,758
• Once Upon a Time in the West (1968): Budget $5,000,000, Worldwide Gross $5,380,118
• The Elephant Man (1980): Budget $5,000,000, Worldwide Gross $26,000,000

The median budget for wide-release drama films in the 2010s ranges from $30 to 80M for mid-budget to $150M+ for tentpoles.

A Separation Box Office Performance

"A Separation" earned $7,098,492 domestically and $24,426,169 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $5,000,000, the film performed strongly at the box office.

A film typically needs to earn approximately twice its production budget to cover marketing and distribution costs. For "A Separation," that break-even threshold was roughly $10,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $24,426,169, the film cleared that threshold comfortably.

• Production Budget: $5,000,000
• Worldwide Gross: $24,426,169
• Net Return: $19,426,169
• ROI: approximately 388.5%

At 388.5%, "A Separation" earned roughly $4.89 for every $1 invested in production.

Awards and Recognition

Won 1 Oscar. 89 wins & 52 nominations total

• César Award for Best Foreign Film
• Silver Bear for Best Actor
• Golden Bear
• Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (84th Academy Awards)
• Silver Bear for Best Actress
• Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Feature Film

Critical Reception

The film has been met with universal acclaim from film critics. It currently holds a 99% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 176 reviews with an average rating of 8.90/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Morally complex, suspenseful, and consistently involving, A Separation captures the messiness of a dissolving relationship with keen insight and searing intensity." The site ranked it 24th on their "300 Best Movies of All Time" list in 2025. It has a score of 95 on Metacritic based on 41 reviews, making it the best-reviewed film of 2011.