Film Reviews

Certified Copy

• Rating:
• Director: Abbas Kiarostami.
• Starring: Juliette Binoche, William Shimell.
• Details: France/Italy/Iran / 106mins (TBC).

Certified Copy is the kind of film I usually run screaming from - the type of film you need to watch American Pie 8: Space Camp Wedding three times immediately afterwards just to feel normal again. But the wonderfully quiet performances in this two-hander are simply irresistible and director Kiarostami has a knack of pulling you into their weird little world, a world that's falling apart. So what is it about? I can't be one hundred per cent sure after a single viewing but I think it's about everything. Everything except American Pie 8: Space Camp Wedding, that is. James (Shimell) is in Tuscany to promote his new book and trying to listen intently to his speech is antique dealer Elle (Binoche), who keeps getting distracted by her annoying teenage son who wants nothing more than to get a burger. James turns up at Elle's antique shop and they take a spin in the car. As they travel the beautiful countryside and wander around the alleyways, coffee shops and restaurants of a sleepy village, the two pontificate on life, love, the universe and everything. As the conversations ramble, it becomes apparent that these two aren't strangers but are engaged in an odd role-playing game. Why? Well, that would be giving away the game away. Written and directed by Iranian Abbas Kiarostami, one of the Iranian New Wave directors that sprung up in the 60s, Certified Copy is an acquired taste. A series of looooooong scenes loaded with (pretentious) dialogue, the film plays out like a boxing match, complete with respites, as the verbal sparring of Binoche and Shimell exist in peaks and troughs - sometimes they're nice and polite, other times they're heated and nasty. For the most part it's just the two on screen, as Kiarostami allows the world to fade away when the pair get stuck into each other, but when he does break the momentum of the arguments he permits their world to be punctured by delightful characters that warrant the intrusion: the old Italian coffee shop owner who pontificates on what a good husband should be, and a French couple who weigh in with relationship advice - "Put your arm around her shoulder. It may be simple to you but to her it's vital." If showy and pompous conversations are the order of the day, Certified Copy needed two down-to-earth performances to meet the viewer halfway. Shimell's James might be forthright, portentous and cold, but behind it there's a need for love and warmth. It's nothing he does or says but the man is full of regret of how his life has turned out and that, despite his manner, gets the audience on side. Binoche, on the other hand, might act all secure and brave, but just under the surface is a cry to be treated kindly. As that Frenchman said, an arm around the shoulder is all she wants. Sometimes beautiful, sometimes distant, Certified Copy throws enough curveballs to keep interest level high.

Review by Gavin Burke