He offers a broadside on the objective qualities of great works, and the books implications trouble her.
It asks: is there such thing as inherent value in a culture of mass production?
What makes something genuine?
And besides, is the term original, as a marker of quality, irrelevant?
But as they argue over its merits, there are hints of further faking at play.
For Kiarostami soon introduces a subtle twist to the proceedings.
A cafe owner, seeing the couple together, idly assumes they are husband and wife.
The woman doesnt correct her, but this warps the situation completely.
In fact, are they married?
The cinema has an innate ability to show us the surreal.
CGI, animation and good old in-camera trickery has presented us with impossible worlds and uncanny beings.
Cinematic realism has become a stylistic quirk, something to make war movies and horror flicks more compelling.
But what about the real world?
Kiarostami unravelsCertified Copyas a piece of ambiguous realism, a Pinteresque exploration of meaning and observation.
Certified Copyis an enigma.
It is, after all, two people talking.
The audience must ascribe meaning to their relationship, just like the eavesdroppers and passers-by on their travels.
Certified Copyoffers no answers, no objective truths or epiphanic twists.
Even Kiarostami himself has said he has no definitive interpretation.
We must deal with it.
Like in real life.
Or a copy of it, at least.
Rating:
4 out of 5