Certified Copy (2010)
"Copie conforme" (original title)

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.

Director:

Abbas Kiarostami

Writers:

Caroline Eliacheff (collaborator on screenplay), Abbas Kiarostami,

Stars:

Juliette Binoche, William Shimell, Jean-Claude Carrière

3 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Juliette Binoche	...	Elle
William Shimell	...	James Miller
Jean-Claude Carrière	...	L'homme de la place
Agathe Natanson	...	La femme de la place
Gianna Giachetti	...	La patronne du café
Adrian Moore	...	Le fils
Angelo Barbagallo	...	Le traducteur
Andrea Laurenzi	...	Le guide
Filippo Trojano	...	Le marié
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Manuela Balsinelli	...	La mariée

Storyline

James Miller has just written a book on the value of a copy versus the original work of art. At a book reading, a woman gives him her address, and the next day they meet and take a country-side drive to a local Italian village. Here, they discuss various works of art found in the town, and also the nature of their relationship - which gets both more revealed and concealed as the day progresses.

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Plot Keywords:

art | copy | book reading | cafe | applying lipstick | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [jp]

Country:

France Italy Belgium

Language:

French English Italian

Release Date:

19 May 2010 (France)

Also Known As:

Certified Copy

Filming Locations:

Lucignano, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

€7,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$77,937 (USA) (11 March 2011)

Gross:

$1,337,384 (USA) (10 June 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

MK2 Productions, BiBi Film, Abbas Kiarostami Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At some point Robert De Niro was in negotiation for the role of James Miller, but eventually it was offered to William Shimell.

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Quotes

James Miller: It seems to me that the human race is the only species who have forgotten the whole purpose of life the whole meaning of existence is to have fun, to have pleasure. and here is someone who's found their own way to do it, we shouldn't judge them for it, if they're happy and enjoying life we should congratulate them not criticize them.

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Connections

Featured in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #2.1 (2011)

User Reviews

a relationship between a couple in terms of perception

after a theoretical conference about artistic reproduction, Certified Copy begins like normal romance; an encounter, maybe an attraction from Her (Her is an art gallerist), she invites the writer to see something she think pertains to his new book — a book about originals and copies. As they travel across the Tuscan countryside, they talk and the writer tries to impose a different conception of happiness. i followed their confrontation with pleasure and so i believed i was watching a relationship in its first stages.

as the movie progresses, ideas about this couple change, a complicity arises between them. more and more it seems like they have a history. midway through the film, a waitress takes them for a couple. The gallerist does not correct her and it is at this moment that Certified Copy radically changes our perceptions; the pair seem to be playing along that suggestion. the ground began shifting very often while i was trying to make logic out of it; after exclusively conversing in English, now they shift between English and French alternately while strong sentiments steadily manifest. attempts made in vain to sort out the real and the fake, the original and the copy..

for me, Certified Copy woks great as a metaphor for relationships in general; one gets to see successive illustrations of life as a couple: the first encounter and the attraction that builds upon, the first arguments and the blame game that follows, the sorrow and nostalgia.. it's clear that Kiarostami delivers a subtle symbolic representation of relationships and our perceptions through them, a film that i think deserves more viewings to detect more subtleties.

my appreciation of the film increased a lot since i saw it 5 days ago. however, while i think it's great conceptually, it prevents the audience from fully engaging through constant tact; because it encourages us to seek a way to make sense of it all, it is misleading in that way. i also wasn't a big fan of Binoche's performance, it seemed very improvised and impulsive