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CERTIFIED COPY (2011) (***1/2)

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Director Abbas Kiarostami (TASTE OF CHERRY) begins his film with an intellectual debate about art and its representation of real life. Then he switches the debate to how it would apply to real life. This might sound too esoteric but Kiarostami wraps it around two compelling characters and the romantic subtext that it conjures. And then there is the twist that makes us question what is going on at all.

James Miller (opera singer William Shimell) is a scholar who has written a new book arguing that a copy of an original piece of art has just as much value as the original because it makes us appreciate the original. Elle (Juliette Binoche, THE ENGLISH PATIENT), an antiques dealer, thinks the argument is interesting, but flawed. James defends his argument by asking whether the awe of a child gazing on the beauty of a copy of the Mona Lisa is any less authentic because it is not the original. He believes that the point of life is to enjoy it in whatever way you want even if someone else might believe it is not right. Elle believes this is good for philosophy but doesn't apply to reality.

They debate this during a day together as she takes him to the resort town Lucignano, Italy where many married couples go for good luck. At a cafe the woman working there mistakes James and Elle as husband and wife. Then for the rest of the film they start acting as if they are husband and wife. So are they husband and wife and were play acting like they weren't? Or is it the other way around? Elle seems distraught at being a single mother, but is she single or not? Is she taking her frustrations with her life out on James? If so why does James play along? Is the intellectual gymnastics fun for him? Is it all foreplay? Is the copy of a married as good as the real thing?

Part of the appeal is the performances. Shimell comes off perfectly as a cool minded intellectual. Binoche is sexy, charming, intelligent and frustrated. She's frustrated with her teenage son who never does anything she says, which flows over onto James. In an interesting exchange Elle tells a story of her son playing out in the rain without a coat and how he blew her off when she scolded him. James defends the boy's point of view by saying that he was having fun, knows we will all die someday, so who cares. When you do have someone to care about or care for, who cares if a fine enough philosophy, but Elle finds it empty.

For the most part, the film is simply the two characters talking, conjuring up thoughts of Richard Linklater's BEFORE SUNRISE. But Kiarostami has a unique style. His signature  shot of two people facing forward while driving in a car is present of course. It highlights how simply putting characters in a car can add action to a dialogue scene. But more unusual is his use of hiding key elements of the action off screen. One such moment comes as James and Elle debate the meaning of a statue of a man, woman and child without showing us the statue. By not showing us what they are talking about, Kiarostami creates tension and focuses us on each characters' point of view by removing our own interpretation. But what how he disperses the tension once Elle walks away from the debate. We get to see the statue in the reflection on a mirror. A copy.

It's refreshing to find a film that has the confidence and maturity to not spell everything out. Kiarostami takes an artistic debate and links it to the lives of his characters. In doing so he makes the audience not only reflect on what it means to James and Elle, but also how it relates to our own lives. This is certainly an original.

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Rick DeMott
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