2010’s Certified Copy,
written and directed by Abbas Kiarostami.
Starring Juliette Binoche, William Shimell, Adrian Moore, Gianna
Giachetti, Jean-Claude Carrière, and Agathe Natanson.
What is it about?
Set in present day Italy, antique collector (Juliette
Binoche) arranges to spend the day with author, James Miller (William Shimell).
The two of them pontificate about their thoughts on the difference between
originals and copies in both art and life, but something is off. Through
espresso, weathered streets, and historical art, the nature of their
relationship comes into question as they reveal themselves for what they really
are.
Why is it worth seeing?
Departed Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami once said that
one can never get close to the truth except through lying. Here, his tale of
two people exploring a constantly morphing relationship, invites viewers to
multiple interpretations. Awash in the classical splendour of Italy’s Tuscany,
it is never clear on which terra firma the couple resides.
Through a prism of conversation around topics such as the difference between authenticity and fakery, Kiarostami’s script about Binoche’s French/Italian passionate art curator and Shimell’s English distanced author intellectual produce insights that reveal themselves gradually, changing our perceptions of everything that came before. The result is a film that is as interested in mystery, as it is the irregular beats of those from Venus and Mars.
Like a lot of great works, Copy’s movie trailer and marketing don’t do it justice. To see it hyped is to speak to some sort of Hollywood meet cute elevator pitch in which a pair of strangers decide to pretend to be a couple, to presumably fantastic results resulting in wedding bells and bliss. Instead, it produces something much more beguiling- interested in what happens when people investigate both their pairing, and themselves. Packed with reflective surfaces, mirrors, and isolated shots of actors speaking to one another, Kiarostami plainly reveals how muddled the difference between reality and fantasy can be.
As the principals in 95% of the film, Shimell and Binoche both give performances of depth, their respective backgrounds informing who they are without stereotypically defining. In particular, Binoche is spectacular, alternating between English, French, and Italian like a Formula One driver switches gears, with an engine to match. The decision to award her Best Actress at Cannes that year has aged well.
Unique and intoxicating, elegiac and at times tragic, like
its male protagonist, Certified Copy
can at times tip into the overly intellectual, but its mystery, themes, and
mastery of craft, are no forgery- they’re the genuine article.
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