Copie Conforme (Certified Copy)

Written and Directed by Abbas Kiarostami
Starring: Juliette Binoche and William Shimell
Released May 2010 (France) and January 2011 (USA) 

C'est un beau film. Critically acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami has painted a story that is as real as the audience perceives it to be. Juliette Binoche (Chocolat, Bleu, Dan in Real Life) brings vibrance to the screen as an antique shop owner named Elle. William Shimell plays James Miller, a brainy British author who is in Tuscany to promote his latest book. Elle befriends James and insists on taking him on a tour of rural Italy. While sipping espresso in a cafe, Elle and James are mistaken for a married couple. They continue the illusion like actors in a play. 

Miller's book is about copies. He makes the argument 
that something is only as real as the viewer perceives it to be, therefore a copy is no less worthy than an original. Elle takes him to a museum and she translates the plaque under a painting, saying it is only a copy of the original. Miller questions why the viewers need know this, why not just let them believe it is the original? After all, it looks identical. 

Elle and James act just like a married couple. Every nuance and mannerism seems to confirm the assumption made in the cafe. In the end, the audience is left to translate the plaque under the painting. 


Binoche won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance. As a British opera star, this is the first major film for Shimell, but he carries the film with shrewd competence. The cinematography is stunning and the dialogue between Elle and James is much more notable than the IMDb would have you believe. Using Elle's description, the film seems "intentionally aimless," letting the viewer interpret the truth: is the marriage real or only a quip-ful copy? And if the truth is in the eye of the beholder, why does it matter? 


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