Taste of Cherry (1997)
"Ta'm e guilass" (original title)

An Iranian man drives his truck in search of someone who will quietly bury him under a cherry tree after he commits suicide.

Director:

Abbas Kiarostami

Writer:

Abbas Kiarostami

Stars:

Homayoun Ershadi, Abdolrahman Bagheri, Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari

3 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Homayoun Ershadi	...	Mr. Badii
Abdolrahman Bagheri	...	Mr. Bagheri
Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari	...	Soldier
Safar Ali Moradi	...	The soldier
Mir Hossein Noori	...	The seminarian
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ahmad Ansari

Storyline

Middle-aged Mr.Badii is planning to commit suicide and desperately seeks anyone to assist him - he has already dug out the grave in the mountains, but the assistant will have to bury him when he will do the deed. He asks Kurd soldier, Afghan seminarian, but everyone refuses by some reason. Finally he finds an old Turkish taxidermist, who has a sick son and previously attempted suicide himself, and he agrees to assist Badii.

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Plot Keywords:

suicide | hole | outskirts | automobile | tehran iran | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Zeitgeist Film [us]

Country:

Iran France

Language:

Persian

Release Date:

26 November 1997 (France)

Also Known As:

Taste of Cherry

Filming Locations:

Tehran, Iran

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$9,688 (USA) (20 March 1998)

Gross:

$311,873 (USA) (20 November 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Abbas Kiarostami Productions, CiBy 2000, Kanoon

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Chosen by "Les Cahiers du cinéma" (France) as one of the 10 best pictures of 1997 (#06).

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Goofs

In the opening scene, as Mr. Badhi is driving past laborers looking for work, the same middle-aged white haired man, wearing a checkered sweater vest, is seen twice.

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Quotes

Mr. Badii: I don't want to give you a gun to kill me. I'm giving you a spade, a spade.

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Connections

Spoofed in Lips to Lips (2000)

User Reviews

Moving allegory

I was prepared to dislike this film. Instead, I wound up fascinated. The state can't help Mr. Badii, the church can't help him...and even though nature, in the form of Mr. Bagheri, tries, we do not know if it succeeds. Absolutely fascinating. It shows that a director doesn't need $200,000,000 and a raft of special effects and explosions to make a good film.

As for the shot-on-video ending, it's entirely possible that it's there to appease the Iranian censors. "Look! Here's Mr. Badii! Alive and well. It's just a movie!" Another subtle commentary on the state of affairs in Iran today, I'll wager. At least, that's how I chose to see it.

It seems to me that the title reflects Douglas Adams' techniques for flying--fall, and then distract yourself so that you don't hit the ground. It's not that the taste of cherry makes life worth living, per se, it's that simple things can distract you from your cares.

This movie was well-shot, well-directed, well-acted, and well-written. Highly recommended.