Certified Copy—————————————-5/10
A French Film Directed and Written by Abbas Kiarostami, Starring Juliette Bincohe and William Shimmell
IMDB Synopsis- In Tuscany to promote his latest book, a middle-aged British writer meets a French woman who leads him to the village of Lucignano. While there, a chance question reveals something deeper.
Positives- The acting was fantastic. Juliette Binoche and Williams Shimmell spend the majority of this film going one on one and there was a chemistry that had me me happily along for the trip throughout most of the film. I liked spending time with these two. Binoche’s mood throughout fluctuates wildly and she is able to sell all the emotions. She also masterfully slips in and out of three different languages. Shimmell has a little less heavy work to do as his character is mostly confidently pompous and later becomes annoyed and withdrawn.
Nothing about the direction wows you, but it’s a beautiful looking film. Kiarostami shoots the Tuscan countryside and lovely quaint village in such soft loving light. You feel like you’re visiting these areas with the characters.
I found a lot of the discussion about the value of art and the value of forgeries or copies to be interesting, with Shimmell and Binoche batting ideas and beliefs back and forth. No definitive answers are given about anything, but it was interesting stuff that I haven’t spent much time thinking about.
Negatives- While I enjoyed the two actors playing off each other, my interest began and continued to wane as their possible charade of being a fifteen year married couple kicked in. The exact extent of their relationship was and continues to be a mystery, but it never became one I really cared to uncover or explore.
I loved the performances but as the film continued on and my interest in the charade never materialized. I had to wonder what are these strong performances in service of? I either missed the profundity (very possible) or I was in search of something more than was ever offered up. I had a good time with the characters for a while, but for me it never materialized into anything for me to take away from the film.
Verdict- CERTIFIED COPY is a critical darling and an interesting film in some respects. I found the strong performances by Binoche and Shimmell and their chemistry together to be enough to drag me happily along for most of their day trip. Kiarostami lovingly shot beautiful Tuscany. I was also interested by some of the early debate of the value of copies, but as things went along and the mystery of their relationship came to the forefront I stopped caring. My lack of interest pretty much corresponded with Shimmell’s characters annoyance. I felt the strong performances were in service of something I either didn’t grasp or was never there to begin with. CERTIFIED COPY is highly regarded, but I cannot recommend it.
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