Certified Copy

Name: Certified Copy
Genre: Drama
Released: March 11, 2011
Duration: 106 min
Rating: 82

2011

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 23 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 59 Ratings

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7.8

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7.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 59 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

IFC Films | Release Date: March 11, 2011 | Unrated

Summary: In Italy to promote his latest book, a middle-aged English writer meets a young French woman and jets off to San Gimignano with her. (IFC Films)

Director: Abbas Kiarostami

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Unrated

Runtime: 106 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Keith Phipps

Mar 10, 2011

Though it's dominated by two people walking and talking, after a point it's as difficult to parse what's real and what's constructed in Certified Copy as it is in the home stretch of "Inception" (although "Before Sunset" and Roberto Rossellini's "Journey To Italy" provide closer models). Read full review

IndieWire Eric Kohn

Mar 7, 2011

A comedy of remarriage buried in intellectual abstraction and cinephilic obsessions, Certified Copy wanders a bit but never loses focus, with the only certainty being that its gimmick is genuine. Read full review

J. Hoberman

Mar 8, 2011

Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy is exactly that: The Iranian modernist's first feature to be shot in the West is a flawless riff on our indigenous art cinema.

Peter Rainer

Mar 19, 2011

Despite the film's coy artiness and a lassitude that sometimes passes for soulfulness, Certified Copy is strangely haunting. Read full review

David Fear

Mar 8, 2011

Her (Binoche) award-winning performance is reason alone to dive into such intellectual gamesmanship. (She can suggest an entire emotional arc with one facial tic.) Read full review

Joe Williams

Apr 1, 2011

Although the film has elements of a puzzler by Michelangelo Antonioni and a psychodrama by Ingmar Bergman, it never becomes compellingly intellectual or unnervingly emotional. Read full review

Boxoffice Magazine Richard Mowe

Mar 7, 2011

The romantic fable of love, marriage, art and second chances may not add up to all that much but the journey is exquisite. Read full review

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User Reviews

Behdabra

Jan 7, 2012

Abbas Kiarostami is one of the greatest directors of all time, and this film is just another masterpiece of his brilliant works, i recommend it to all.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

MorriBey

Apr 5, 2011

If you are waiting for a sequel for 'Before Sunset' , this movie wont disappoint. Juliette Binoche plays her part with such clarity that one feels like she is the person she plays. Worthy of any actress award.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

CitizenCharlie

Jan 7, 2012

Be careful if you prefer your movies wrapped up in a pleasant little bow with an obvious beginning, middle, end, and with all questions and conflicts answered and sorted out. Certified Copy raises hundreds of absorbing and metaphysical questions, none of which will be answered for you atBe careful if you prefer your movies wrapped up in a pleasant little bow with an obvious beginning, middle, end, and with all questions and conflicts answered and sorted out. Certified Copy raises hundreds of absorbing and metaphysical questions, none of which will be answered for you at the end. In fact, the audience is cerebrally supposed to do the heavy lifting here. If you see this with your significant other or a friend, plan on dedicating the hour post-film to declaring and defending your arguments on who the couple is, where they are in their relationship, and what is the truth. Writer/director Abbas Kiarostami is not teasing his audience as some viewers might accuse him; rather, he is challenging them. If you do not want to work in your movie going experience, go to your local multiplex and watch the latest forgettable wide release. However, if you are intrigued by piecing together intellectual puzzle pieces, Certified Copy will give you as much of a contest of wits as the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle. From the setup; however, there are no signs at all that this film will be anything other than a modern, romantic European dialogue driven movie. This is Before Sunrise in a small Tuscan village with middle-aged characters instead of Vienna seen through the eyes of naive early-20s backpackers. The man, James Miller (William Shimell), is on a book tour in Italy because unexpectedly, his work has become quite popular with Italians, even more popular than in his native England. His premise concerns original art versus its copies. Why are originals valued and exalted more than copies which may be even better than the original it was forged from? Furthermore, why does having the knowledge of whether or not a piece of art is actually the original change the viewerâ… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

seancriswell

Jul 29, 2012

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I love the dialogue in this movie, and the intrigue throughout most of what these two people's relationship is. I also love the way after each intense exchange the director gives you quiet to ponder what has been said and what emotions the characters are going through. My problems with the story all stem from the fact that we never really have anyone or anything to get emotionally attached to or root for. I wish we had seen at least a little interaction between the father and son instead of just complete indifference. Overall this movie was tremendously written and very well acted.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JLuis_001

Jul 11, 2021

One part of me isn't sure what Kiarostami was trying to do, but the other part makes me believe the director tries without any preamble to say that it's you who must build the answers to the mystery it presents.

Certainly the story it proposes ends up being more intriguing than comforting.One part of me isn't sure what Kiarostami was trying to do, but the other part makes me believe the director tries without any preamble to say that it's you who must build the answers to the mystery it presents.

Certainly the story it proposes ends up being more intriguing than comforting. And the lack of answers basically leaves you stranded, because the interpretation of its development can fall in different places, and in the face of such an open ending I can't deny that you can feel a substantial void, and not so much because the story is disappointing, but because solving the mystery is a natural desire.

Perhaps not even the characters themselves know what happened, and they were experiencing the story, now being only the spectators of what the director wants us to see, confusion is to be expected.

The simplest interpretation I got is that like the historian's character says that everything is a copy of something else, especially in art. So what is it that makes it valuable?
That's what happens with this film, because everything that it presents, you will assume it as more than it really is.
And as I said, in the absence of answers, all that remains are your own interpretations.
And isn't that the case with many things that involve art? Music, movies, books. You name it.

If you like conclusive stories, this may not be your thing.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

RobertBrogan

Sep 28, 2015

Certified Copy is cynical and postmodern and may be true to the reality of some. The style of the performance is a kind of anguished improv (which is certainly different). But the product is not very true to the trailer, and those wanting to watch a positive and romantic film may findCertified Copy is cynical and postmodern and may be true to the reality of some. The style of the performance is a kind of anguished improv (which is certainly different). But the product is not very true to the trailer, and those wanting to watch a positive and romantic film may find Certified Copy disappointing. I would have classed it as a drama, and may have enjoyed it more if I had different expectations, but did not dislike it.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

netflic

Mar 21, 2011

I don't know why critics gave this movie scores that high. I was bored a significant part of it. At times the movie was quite interesting, the end intriguing but overall it is not a movie that I will remember in one week...

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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