‘Certified Copy‘ is one of the latest films by Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami and one of the few made by him outside Iran. The landscape is very different from his previous films. The film looks completely ‘European’ and the assimilation of the European cultural background is perfect. At the same time, we find here familiar themes that have preoccupied Kiarostami throughout his career – family and couple relationships, the place of children in the family, the different personal memories and perceptions of the characters. As in his best films of earlier periods, the director manages to tell a meaningful story with simple and expressive means. But what we also find in ‘Certified Copy‘ is a game of meanings with which the director envelops the behavior and the words of the heroes of the story that is being told on screen in an atmosphere of mystery and ambiguity. The story in the film haunts its viewers after the screening. What did we actually see?
The main heroine, played by Juliette Binoche, whose name we never know, is a mature French woman, who raises alone a boy in his early teens and keeps a gallery of antiques and art objects in the Tuscan town of Arezzo. James Miller (William Shimell) is a British author of art books, the most recent one having as topic the relation between originals and copies of works of art. She witnesses the launch of the author’s book in Arezzo and then becomes his guide for a few hours in the villages of Tuscany. At one point, in a cafe, the owner of the place confuses them with a married couple. The two seem amused by the confusion, and from now on they gradually enter the roles and behave more and more naturally as a couple for 15 years, maybe separated or on the verge of separation, in any case a couple in crisis. A game or reality, because their behavior becomes more and more deeply suited to the attitudes of a loving woman and of an indifferent man, concerned only with his career? Which of the two hypotheses is the ‘true’? Discussions about originals and copies suddenly can be viewed in a different dimension, get a different meaning. What is truth? what is authenticity? can the copy generate more emotion than the original? can the feelings in the game be deeper than those in reality? or maybe everything around us is a multitude of copies or the result of simulation games? or just imagination?
Juliette Binoche is perfect and in my opinion makes this film one of the best roles in her mature career. I wasn’t extremely convinced by William Shimell, a semi-professional actor (and famous tenor). His intellectualism and emotional disconnection may have been in line with Kiarostami‘s vision, but I couldn’t help but think as I watched the film to alternative casting choices (Daniel Day-Lewis? Jeremy Irons?). James Miller’s character remains one of the many mysteries of this beautiful film, which is worth seeing and reviewing, and then discussing in mind or with friends. I recommend you do it.