Certified Copy Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: Certified Copy
Year: 2010
Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Country: France
Language: French

I first saw Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy on Netflix in early 2011. Needless to say that I was absolutely blown away by how creative, original and just absurd it was. Of course Kiarostami has always been an interesting filmmaker, his 1990 film Close-Up made us question reality itself and made him into a thinking man's Director. He has made many great flicks since then, but none as remarkable as his 2010 masterpiece.

At the start of the film James Miller (William Shimell) has just written a book on the value of a copy versus the original work of art. At a book reading, a woman (Juliet Binoche) gives him her address, and the next day they meet and take a country-side drive to a local Italian village. Here, they discuss various works of art found in the town, and also the nature of their relationship, which gets stranger as the day progresses.

Certified Copy is an examination of a relationship in terms of reality and perception. A conversation examining the value of copies within our lives. The couple continually discuss the value of a copy vs an original, then a waitress mistakes them for newlyweds and they decide to play along. However as the day progresses this game gets out of hand, they start acting like they've been married for 15 years. The picture stops being somewhat of a romantic comedy and starts becoming Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

What is the reality in this picture? Have they been married for 15 years and were just acting like they just met at the beginning? Are they just copying what they see in traditional marriage? Is their world a movie within a movie? Perhaps years have passed subtly and Kiarostami didn't wish to edit the picture as if time has gone by. Art is interpretation, and there are hundreds of ways to interpret what this film is about. Abbas Kiarostami is not a European, he is from Iran, but with his masterful film-making skills he is able to make a certified copy of the European Art Film we are used to seeing.

In conclusion, Certified Copy is an extremely fun film to watch and will have you in deep thought throughout the running time. I have seen it 5 times already and cannot get enough of it. Brilliant dialogue and great acting are the driving force the picture, could a better script have been made? Not a chance. Praise it! 5/5