On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: CERTIFIED COPY (Sundance Selects).
A Tuscan backdrop to a puzzle, a mystery, a moment in time…
Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami’s CERTIFIED COPY (COPIE CONFORME
) will not be for everyone. It demands attention, intelligent viewing, time to watch at one sitting. If you are a fan or know Kiarostami’s other work, you’ll most certainly love this as I did.
In Florence, in Tuscany, Elle (Juliet Binoche) comes to hear author James Miller (William Shimell) read from and launch his new work. She extends an invitation to him to visit her art and antiques gallery the next day. When he shows up at the gallery, it all begins very tentatively.
CERTIFIED COPY (Sundance Selects)
It seems they are complete opposites – she warm and emotional, he cerebral and distant. They launch into a philosophical discourse about imitation and copy, how a copy may actually have its own beauty and shed light on the original. This conversation extends through the day, a tour through a small, touristic village and a meal where a bridal party celebrates outside. Their discussion develops into a sort of game, where we suddenly are not sure of anything, particularly their relationship.
They speak in English, French and sometime Italian, and the language they use dictates the role-play. By then we’re hooked, hanging on every word to discover more… and perhaps the truth. Or not. Here we have a delicate interplay of fact and fiction, reality and fantasy, meditation and debate. In the end, we find ourselves asking a lot of questions – what is true or false, original or forgeries in our own lives?
We never discover much about the characters – she has a young son and the gallery, she’s French but is here in Florence for a reason, but we never discover what. He’s a writer on art, culture and philosophy, but we know nothing beyond. It doesn’t matter. For they are here in this moment and so are we.
CERTIFIED COPY (Sundance Selects)
We experience the moment with them. Past and future never come into the picture and they don’t matter.
Kiarostami’s great body of work, while spare and minimalist, consistently leaves one with much to contemplate.
It’s even more within the keeping of this theme when we discover William Shimell who plays the writer is not an actor at all; rather he’s a world famous British baritone. But then again I am wrong on that point - he’s a famous opera singer, thus he is an accomplished actor in that genre.
Here Shimell makes his screen debut and beautifully indeed. He pairs well with the always-extraordinary Juliet Binoche – and no one wonders that every great filmmaker in the world wants to work with her. She gives all of herself in every role. For her performance as Elle, she took the Best Actress Award at 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
CERTIFIED COPY (Sundance Selects)
Sadly, this film will only make it to a few art-house cinemas within the U.S., and so thanks again to On Demand, where CERTIFIED COPY can receive a deservedly wider audience. This in turn may open up more Americans to Kiarostami’s other films such as TASTE OF CHERRY, (1997 Palme d’Or) TEN and THE WIND WILL CARRY US – all stories giving us the human face of Iran, away from the political, the strictly religious.
Abbas Kiarostami / CERTIFIED COPY (Sundance Selects)
In fact, CERTIFIED COPY is the first time Kiarostami has made a film outside Iran and first time working in multiple languages.
One can only hope for more. No matter what the culture, he shows us that what’s universal about being human is far more mysterious, delicate and evident than our differences.
- Cynthia Kane
Cynthia Kane reviews documentaries for On Demand Weekly. She is a writer and Sr Programming Manager for [ ITVS], overseeing the International Initiative for funding in their SF office. Prior she’s had many incarnations from actor to writer to producer. She co-created DOCday on Sundance Channel.
CERTIFIED COPY (Sundance Selects) is now available on Cable Movies On Demand.
Read Other Reviews By Cynthia Kane:
CEREMONY
SECRET SUNSHINE
WHITE MATERIAL
INSPECTOR BELLAMY
ALL YOU NEED IS KLAUS
THE LOTTERY
Ocean Monk
