Down the Rabbit Hole of Reality: Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy

Authors

  • Anna Maria McMurray Koç University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2011.8

Abstract

This article discusses how Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami’s 2010 film Certified Copy treats themes of originality, experience, perception, and memory.  The main character’s thesis about art—that copies are not merely inferior versions of originals—is applied to everyday experience of love, life and human relationships.  While the film seems to privilege the subjectivity of experience and reinforces the idea that value is found in individual interpretation rather than any one true or original meaning, it ultimately asks more questions than it answers, and while it sets out on a quest for truth, it, in the end, places responsibility on the audience to fill in the blanks and make meaning for themselves.

Author Biography

Anna Maria McMurray, Koç University

Instructor in the Communications Department at Koç University

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Published

2011-08-04

How to Cite

McMurray, A. M. (2011). Down the Rabbit Hole of Reality: Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 1(1), 4–15. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2011.8

Issue

Section

Articles