About Elly (2009)

About Elly (2009)

Year: 2015

Runtime: 1 h 59 m

Language: english

Director: Asghar Farhadi

dramamystery

During a seaside getaway for a group of Tehran's elite, Sepideh tries to set up her daughter’s teacher, Elly, with Ahmad, a recently divorced man living abroad. As the weekend progresses, hidden truths and desires come to light, creating tension and blurring the boundaries of friendship and attraction. The carefully constructed facade of their lives is threatened as secrets emerge, leading to unexpected consequences and a complex web of relationships.

Warning: spoilers below!

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Timeline – About Elly (2009) (2015)

Trace every key event in About Elly (2009) (2015) with our detailed, chronological timeline. Perfect for unpacking nonlinear stories, spotting hidden connections, and understanding how each scene builds toward the film’s climax. Whether you're revisiting or decoding for the first time, this timeline gives you the full picture.

1

The Gathering

As the sun sets over the Caspian Sea, a close-knit group of Iranian friends arrives for a three-day retreat at a seaside mansion. Sepideh organized this getaway, hoping to reunite her friend Ahmad with the kindergarten teacher, Elly.

Sunset Caspian Sea
2

Meeting the Caretaker

Upon their arrival, the group encounters the mysterious caretaker of the property who offers them an alternative: a secluded beachfront villa. This suggestion adds an element of intrigue and sets the tone for the retreat's unfolding events.

Beachfront villa
3

The Honeymoon Ruse

To manipulate the situation, Sepideh fabricates a story that portrays Elly and Ahmad as a couple on their honeymoon. This deception is crucial to Sepideh's plan to spark a romance between the two.

Seaside mansion
4

Elly's Reluctance

Initially hesitant about Ahmad's advances, Elly gradually warms to him as the retreat progresses. During a conversation with her mother, she lies about the purpose of her trip, framing it instead as a work retreat.

5

Sepideh's Secrets

As the retreat continues, it becomes evident that Sepideh is hiding important information from Elly. She conceals Elly's luggage and sneaks off for personal errands, hinting at her ulterior motives.

6

The Disappearance

Tensions heighten when Arash suddenly goes missing while swimming, soon followed by Elly's disappearance. The group grows frantic, igniting a wave of panic and accusations among them, as they fear for Elly's safety.

Caspian Sea
7

Fears and Guilt

As they realize both Arash and Elly are missing, the atmosphere thickens with fear and guilt. Doubts creep in about Elly's fate, leading to escalating tensions that threaten to fracture their friendships.

8

Revealing the Truth

As the group begins to unravel the events, it emerges that Elly was secretly engaged to Alireza. Sepideh's decision to orchestrate this gathering without disclosing that information complicates matters further.

9

Alireza's Confrontation

The situation escalates with the arrival of Alireza, who confronts Ahmad in a fit of rage about Elly's status. This confrontation forces Sepideh into a moral dilemma about honesty versus loyalty.

Seaside mansion
10

Tragic Discovery

In a heart-wrenching turn of events, Alireza finds Elly's lifeless body at the mortuary. The shock and grief of this discovery shatter the already fragile bonds among the group, sealing the fate of their vacation.

Mortuary
11

The Aftermath

With Elly's death, the initial intentions of a joyful reunion turn into a haunting nightmare. The group's dynamic changes irrevocably as they grapple with the emotional scars left behind.

Caspian Sea

Last Updated: November 17, 2024 at 17:52

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Tense ensemble dramas in idyllic settings like About Elly (2009)

Movies where a relaxing vacation becomes a crucible of hidden tensions and tragedy.Discover movies like About Elly where a group's peaceful vacation shatters under the weight of secrets. This thread gathers similar dramatic thrillers and ensemble stories where an idyllic location becomes a pressure cooker, revealing hidden truths and testing relationships under the sun.

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Narrative Summary

Stories often begin with a group of friends or family arriving at a seemingly perfect holiday location. The initial mood is light, focused on leisure and bonding. A catalyst event—often a disappearance, an accident, or the arrival of an outsider—disrupts the calm, exposing lies, illicit desires, and collective anxieties. The narrative tension builds from the characters' attempts to maintain their social facades while scrambling to contain the escalating crisis.

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These films are grouped by their powerful use of setting as both a promise and a threat. They share a specific dramatic structure: a deceptive calm followed by a rapid, irreversible descent into chaos. The shared mood is one of claustrophobic tension, moral unease, and the tragic unraveling of carefully constructed lives against a beautiful, indifferent backdrop.

Movies about collective guilt and spiraling lies like About Elly (2009)

Stories where a single event forces a group to weave a web of compounding lies.If you liked the tension in About Elly from the group's cover-up, explore similar movies about collective guilt. These films feature ordinary people making a disastrous choice and then getting trapped in a spiral of lies, leading to heavy moral dilemmas and tragic consequences.

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Narrative Summary

The plot is triggered by a pivotal incident—an accident, a death, or a crime—that the group feels compelled to hide, often to protect their reputations or a member. The initial lie seems manageable, but each attempt to shore it up creates new complications, breeding paranoia and mutual suspicion. The narrative drive comes from watching the lie spin out of control, ratcheting up the tension until the truth can no longer be contained.

Why These Movies?

These films are connected by their exploration of a specific moral and narrative pattern: the domino effect of a single lie. They share a high-tone, anxious mood as characters become prisoners of their own fabrication. The experience is defined by a sense of claustrophobia, the heavy weight of guilt, and a bleak, often tragic, examination of how group dynamics can facilitate ethical collapse.

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About Elly (2009) Summary

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Characters, Settings & Themes in About Elly (2009)

Discover the characters, locations, and core themes that shape About Elly (2009). Get insights into symbolic elements, setting significance, and deeper narrative meaning — ideal for thematic analysis and movie breakdowns.

Characters, Settings & Themes in About Elly (2009)

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About Elly (2009) Spoiler-Free Summary

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