Abstract
Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami's essential and recurrent concern lies in the questioning of the notion of frontier in all shapes and forms—from the geographical to the personal. His latest film Certified Copy, ranks as a trademark production inasmuch as it epitomises Kiarostami's preoccupation with the permeability and inconsistency of the dividing line between reality and fiction—a preoccupation which runs through all his creative works, be they fiction film, experimental documentaries, poetry or photography. Our article examines the specific ways in which the reality/fiction trope is actualised in Certified Copy. Through a study of Kiarostami's cinecriture (Varda) our aim is to highlight the film-maker's contribution to the debate on the role of cinema as an art form, on life (authentic) and art (imitation). We will bring to light the varied ways in which Kiarostami subverts classical narrative techniques, plays with truths and lies, and disrupts the boundaries between spectators, actors, film characters and ultimately director. In this game of reflections Kiarostami materialises a vision of life while succeeding in reaching out to the viewer's emotional make-up.
Highlights
In the last decade or so, the dichotomy between originals and fakes, as well as the concomitant notions of truth and lies, has come to renewed prominence with the increasing availability of replication in writing, in visual images and in sound—not to mention the opening up of distribution channels facilitated by the Internet and cheaper means of transport around the world
Beyond the obvious financial stakes lurks the philosophical question which exercises Philippe Sollers in his novel La Fête à Venise (1991): what would happen if museum exhibits were all fake? In an interview, Sollers comments: 1(Kiarostami, Loup 9) ["The product of my musings / A few narrow pathways / For the wanderers"]
S’ils ne savent plus lire, s’ils ne savent plus regarder, s’ils ne savent plus sentir, ou s’ils ne savent plus s’observer en train de sentir, leur force de résistance, de révolte ou de contestation s’amoindrit. [ . . . ] [J]e prends la peinture, et ce qui est en train d’arriver à la peinture, sa confiscation [ . . . ]
Summary
In the last decade or so, the dichotomy between originals and fakes, as well as the concomitant notions of truth and lies, has come to renewed prominence with the increasing availability of replication in writing, in visual images and in sound—not to mention the opening up of distribution channels facilitated by the Internet and cheaper means of transport around the world. Music does not feature prominently in his previous works, yet Kiarostami insisted on its use in several scenes in Certified Copy and traditional Tuscan folk music, presumably in a bid to add authenticity to the film location.
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