Another Tuscan love story proves to be a distinct and worthwhile experience...

If art is the replication of life, or to be more precise, the emotions of life, then what is its value? Now how about an identical copy of that art – a replication of a replication? Is the value only what we perceive it to be?

Abbas Kiarostami, in his first film set outside of Iran, attempts to answer these questions in a romantic drama set in a small Tuscan village. After arriving to give a lecture on his new book Certified Copy, renowned British author James Miller (William Shimell) is invited to meet an unnamed French woman (Juliette Binoche), the owner of a local art gallery, after she passes him a note though an intermediary. Despite sitting through barely a few minutes of his lecture, the erratic, highly-strung woman turns out to be a fan of Miller’s work, yet constantly challenges his views as they take a drive to view a nearby museum. However, this challenge begins to take a new dimension after both are mistaken for a married couple, and, rising to the bait they continue to act out the role play for the remainder of that afternoon.

With a tour de force performance by Binoche, both deadly and disarming in equal measure, Kiarostami has produced a masterful insight into an interesting and thought-provoking question that will make you question the nature and value of our day-to-day relationships. There is so much detail from the accidental repetition of a joke to the infusion of young married couples and their veteran counterparts. The dialogue, whilst a constant flow, is entertaining with welcome dashes of humour and delivered to perfection by Binoche’s comic imbalance and Shimell’s sobering façade of seriousness. Through an undercurrent of loneliness that never disappears are hints of a deeper question as to whether it is too late for them to have met each other, given the literal and metaphorical distance between their every day lives.

"the real tragedy of this film is not the pathos, but the fear that few punters will take the opportunity to watch one of the outstanding films of the year"

However, the real tragedy of this film is not the pathos, but the fear that few punters will take the opportunity to watch one of the outstanding films of the year, plumping instead for easy comfort in The Expendables, Harry Potter or Toy Story 3. A Best Actress Palme D’Or is rarely enough, nor the beauty of Tuscany and the clever, easy-handed direction of seventy year-old Kiarostami. The latter’s award-winning A Taste of Cherry (1997) was a critical hit, despite being denounced by Iran’s religious authorities. The title and the fact that fictional author Miller remains unappreciated in his own country, points to an autobiographical inside joke. The real star, however, is Shimell, a world-renowned baritone opera singer, who, in his screen acting debut, nails every single note.

You’ll find yourself watching this over and over again.

Certified Copy opens in the UK on Friday 3rd September

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