Brain and heart were given a workout in my film of the year, A Separation, from the Iranian director Asghar Farhadi. What begins as a drama about marital strife spirals into a thriller. Le quattro volte was magically deceptive - this quiet, philosophical rumination, with goats and trees as its unlikely protagonists, was blessed with flourishes that would have tickled Jacques Tati. The minimalist western Meek's Cutoff got under my skin; The Portuguese Nun, about a French actress shooting a 17th-century romance in Lisbon, cast a seductive spell; and Bridesmaids, brainchild of its star Kristen Wiig, proved that sparky writing and volatile comic invention can flourish in Hollywood.