Certified Copy (Abbas Kiorastami, 2020) aka Copie conforme; Juliette Binoche, William Shimell
There's (too) much talk in this about what is a copy and if there is a 'real thing' that it copies – starting with works of art but moving to include ... everything. So it makes sense if the story itself is of doubtful provenance, with the two characters beginning in a relationship which turns into a different one.
I found it annoying (il m'énervait) as it's done so simply as to be hamfisted. It seems to me to use the excuse of being metafictional to allow the two actors too much licence – on the one hand (his) to not act at all, and on the other (hers) to act all over the place.
Critics seemed to like the latter, as Binoche won at least one award, but for me her performance was not grounded in either of the relationships with the bloke, if indeed in sanity.
Of all the reviews I read, the one I liked best was Peter Bradshaw's - who wrote:
"It is a film that is pregnant with ideas, and for aspiring to a cinema of ideas Kiarostami is to be thanked and admired. But the simple human inter-relation between the two characters is never in the smallest way convincing, and there is a translated, inert feel to the dialogue." Bradshaw rated the film with two stars out of five and said that it sometimes looks like "the work of a highly intelligent and observant space alien who still has not quite grasped how Earthlings actually relate to each other." Guardian.
It's still worth seeing, however. There's lots of yummy cinematic stuff to enjoy. For example: shot-reverse-shots which are exactly like Ozu's.
Wikipedia page.
Garry Gillard | reviews | New: 12 July, 2023 | Now: 30 July, 2023