Certified Copy by Abbas Kiarostami

Certified Copy is the story of an English writer (William Shimell) and a French gallery owner (Juliette Binoche) who meet under the Tuscan sun. Yet the real male-female interest here is not between the protagonists, but between Binoche the internationally-acclaimed actress, and Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, winner of the Palme d’Or in 1997 for his Taste of Cherry.

This meeting is as curious as the French star herself - who over the years has worked with Hou-Hsiao Hsien, Leos Carax, Michael Haneke, Louis Malle… and chose Kieslowski instead of Spielberg - and as surprising as Kiarostami’s first international production experience. The director is more than hypnotized by Binoche’s astonishing eyes and body, alternately feverish, pitiful, and broken. In several extraordinary sequence shots the actress shows a moving and uncommon vulnerability, which earned her a well-deserved prize at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

Love is just a cruel joke in which one plays a good or a bad part, with more or less skill. There are many ways to tell this kind of story; Certified Copy uses cinema to draw out its complexity, which makes it magical but heartbreaking. The film creates a sense of unease, determined to destroy classical narration and time whilst breaking the audience’s expectations. And this is the main reason why it’s so painfully unforgettable.

By Geoffrey Crété