Anti working class film

In an interview the director Asghar Farhadi stated that he comes from a middle class background and that he makes films for the (Iranian) middle class.

In A Separation we see a conflict between two families, one middle class and one working class. It is obvious that we are supposed to identify with, and thus root for, the middle class family. It behaves calm and rational in the face of conflict, as opposed to the working class family, which is depicted as untrustworthy, resentful, scheming and violent. The fact that even the young daughter is capable of killing the old man, by playing with the oxygen tank, shows that the threat the working class poses to the middle class is of an intrinsic nature.