CERTIFIED COPY Rating 4

Starring: Juliette Binoche, William Shimmell (Should read William Shimell), Jean-Claude Carrière, Agathe Natanson, Gianna Giachetti, Adrian Moore

Playing at: AMC cinema. Parents’ guide: for all.

I’ve never been a fan of film reviews that reveal too much of the plot. I myself generally try to learn as little as possible about a movie before I see it – part of the enjoyment in watching a film, I find, is in being taken somewhere without knowing where exactly you’re going.

That is certainly the case for Certified Copy, the third feature (CORRECTION: This was not Kiarostami’s third feature; the veteran director has made many films.) from Iranian director Abbas Kierostami (Should read: Abbas Kiarostami), starring the ever-radiant Juliette Binoche (whose performance won her best actress at Cannes last year) and British opera singer (Should read William Shimell) William Shimmell (doing a fine job in his first acting role) as a pair of middle-aged strangers who spend the day together driving around Tuscany.

In one sense, that’s it; nothing much happens in this film except for a lot of conversation, ranging from the scholarly to the metaphysical, romantic and recriminatory. And yet, the path that Kierostami leads us on is full of little twists and at least one sharp turn that need to be experienced first-hand.

So I will do like a fellow critic from the L.A. Times and say that this film is best seen without knowing too much. What you can know, I will now tell you.

It’s not for everyone – the meandering narrative and slippery dialogue may become tedious to some – but those with patience and the willingness to go along for the ride will be justly rewarded.

Shimmell plays British author James Miller, visiting Italy to promote his new book (from whence the film gets its title), which posits that art forgeries can be as valid as the originals.

Binoche is an expat antique store owner and shorttempered single mother of a 10-year-old son. Referred to only as Elle, she attends Miller’s talk, is smitten and arranges for them to meet.

He is suave and self-satisfied, while she’s flustered and deferential – at first, anyway. She drives them out of the city and their courtship/duel begins. The art debate continues – what really is real, and isn’t everything a copy of something?

It would all be rather stuffy if emotional subtexts didn’t seep their way into the mix, and soon the two characters we thought to be so clearly defined are shifting before our eyes, surprising us as they circle each other to reveal new sides of their personalities and their developing relationship.

Binoche carries the film with her charged, multifaceted performance. Though most of the conversation takes place in English, she flips easily to French and Italian; meanwhile, cinematographer Lucca Bigazzi constructs a visual language of his own, creating a seductive array of backdrops for the couple to move through.

Kierostami’s title offers insight into the couple’s interaction, as reality and fantasy become intertwined and, ultimately, indistinguishable. It’s an apt metaphor for the filmmaking – and viewing – process, in which all parties engage in a game of consensual makebelieve that is meant to replicate real life.

We are dropped at the other end, our curiosity piqued, imagination engaged, with more questions than answers. Let the conversation continue.

tdunlevy@ montrealgazette.com

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