Abstract
This article argues that Abbas Kiarostami uses documentaries and fiction films to examine the distinction between reality and fiction. Through the use of an arthouse style of filmmaking, the insertion of a surrogate director into the narrative and a recurring breakdown in technology, Kiarostami demonstrates that film’s ability to capture reality is a flawed, sometimes broken, endeavor.
Highlights
There is a clear distinction between reality and fiction in film
The documentary film exists in the realm of reality while almost all other forms of filmmaking are fiction
Elena (2005) says, “In reality, from the moment of the first sequence—the presentation to camera made by the actor who says he is the film’s director—Through the Olive Trees is deliberately situated in ‘undecided territory’ halfway between fiction and documentary, what is ‘real’ and what is ‘filmed.’” He says this leaves the audience floundering among various levels through which they watch the movements of the film
Summary
John Grierson says that “[D]ocumentary was from the beginning...an ‘anti-aesthetic’ movement. By lingering on the cab driver as he waits for the reporter and police to come out, Kiarostami creates a space in time that deprives the audience of information and constructs something that is not documentary truth Through this creative aesthetic, Close-Up creates a distance from reality even while purportedly capturing it. Elena (2005) says, “In reality, from the moment of the first sequence—the presentation to camera made by the actor who says he is the film’s director—Through the Olive Trees is deliberately situated in ‘undecided territory’ halfway between fiction and documentary, what is ‘real’ and what is ‘filmed.’” He says this leaves the audience floundering among various levels through which they watch the movements of the film. Observing Sabzian becomes the seed of an idea that Kiarostami uses in his two films Both And Life Goes On and Through the Olive Trees feature surrogate directors that Kiarostami uses to explore the realities of filmmaking. It’s a scene where it’s hard to tell where reality ends—if it begins at all—and where the fiction begins
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