'Certified Copy' is the Real Deal

Easily the best movie to grace local screens this year, Certified Copy is one of those films that's a joy to watch and even more of a joy to think about afterward. It's an amazing film that will stay with you for days, if not weeks.

A master class in acting, cinematography, storytelling and general filmmaking, Certified Copy, the first European film directed by Iranian New Wave giant Abbas Kiarostami, is a meditation on art, marriage and much else. There's so much going on here that it's almost hard to know where to begin.

This very international production—shot in Italy with British and French leads, an Iranian director, and language divided roughly into English, French and Italian—won prizes at Cannes in 2010, and as long as its eligible, I can't imagine it losing the Best Foreign Language film Oscar next year.

Certified Copy begins with James Miller (William Shimell), an English author, delivering a library lecture in a Tuscany town on his book, also called Certified Copy, which argues that replicas and forgeries of works of art are really no different from the originals. Soon afterward, he meets a female art gallery manager (Juliette Binoche), unnamed in the film, who attended the lecture, along with her teenage son.

The two, presumably strangers, go off on a drive, her mostly interviewing him about his book and artistic theories, until they arrive in a small village in the countryside, which includes both an art museum and a church in which newly married couples regularly visit for good luck.

It is here that the movie takes an abrupt turn: the two are in a coffee shop and a barista mistakes them for a married couple (spoilers from here on out).

The woman doesn't correct her, and the man plays along. They then spend the remainder of the movie behaving as though they are, in fact, a long-married but estranged couple.

Was the original meeting a ruse and the following a role-playing game? Are they really strangers,but just playing along with each other as some sort of exercise? Or is there some other explanation, perhaps somewhere in between?

Like Black Swan, there are already numerous theories as to what's "really" going on here. Certified Copy is one of those movies where you'll want to go online and read about 10 essays about it—but it's not one of those movies in which you need those 10 essays in order to understand or enjoy it.

But ultimately, the biggest question isn't "Are they married?," but rather, "Does it matter?"

I have my own theories, but I can say that the second question, and the way it ties into the art/copy theory, has more dominated my thoughts since seeing the film. (I happened to see the movie at a theater a block away from where my own wedding took place, although my wife was not with me—and yes, she really is my wife.)

Certified Copy is full of amazing, heartbreaking scenes. Pay special attention to the way Kiarostami positions the camera, often holding one person in a still shot for as many as several minutes. The cinematography is also lush and beautiful, and despite the unpleasantness that takes place, it made me want to get on a plane and visit that Tuscan village immediately.

The two leads both deliver performances that are nothing less than wondrous in their nuance. Binoche has been in many films seen by American audiences, most notably The English Patient, for which she won an Oscar, but this is the best I've ever seen her, by far.

I had assumed that Shimell, who resembles an older, silver-haired Chris Noth, must be some noted European actor with whom I was previously unfamiliar, but was shocked to discover that he is an opera singer who had never before appeared in a movie.

Even if foreign films aren't necessarily your bag, I highly recommend going to see Certified Copy, and then spending a whole lot of time afterward thinking about and discussing it.

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The Silver Screen Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

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Roll Credits: Certified Copy

Directed by: Abbas Kiarostami

Starring: William Shimell, Juliette Binoche, Jean-Claude Carrière, Adrian Moore.

Rated: Not rated

Length: 1 hour 46 minutes

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Appearing at:

Ritz V

• Friday, April 15: 2:25 p.m. - 5:05 p.m. - 7:25 p.m. - 9:55 p.m.

• Saturday, April 16: 12:05 p.m. - 2:25 p.m. - 5:05 p.m. - 9:55 p.m.

• Sunday, April 17: 12:05 p.m. - 2:25 p.m. - 5:05 p.m. - 9:55 p.m.