--- title: "Certified Copy" year: 2010 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/certified-copy" fi1m_score: 84 critics_score: 73 critics_reviews: 17 published: "2026-09-16T13:21:05.482165+00:00" updated: "2026-09-16T13:21:05.898803+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Certified Copy (2010) Directed by Abbas Kiarostami · 1h 46m · MPA NR · Drama, Romance **Fi1m score: 84** · Critics 73 from 17 reviews *In a sentence:* Juliette Binoche makes us want to intervene in an argument between two people we barely know > Abbas Kiarostami makes a moving, occasionally taxing romance out of two people arguing about authenticity. Juliette Binoche gives the talk its urgency, though the film asks for more patience than every exchange deserves. ## Synopsis In Tuscany, Elle (Juliette Binoche) and James Miller (William Shimell) talk about art, love and the value of a copy. A drive through the countryside gives them time to debate what makes an original matter. Each tries to get the other to understand, but the conversation keeps producing disagreements, and questions about objects become questions about people. Reflections fill the car windows as they travel through the landscape. Neither can get the other to accept a view of art or relationships for long. Adrian Moore also appears as The Son. ## Review *Certified Copy* is a moving romance, provided we can forgive some laborious talk along the way. Abbas Kiarostami, who writes and directs, starts with the value of originals and copies and considers what that might mean for two people trying to understand each other. Elle and James Miller are capable of turning almost any exchange into a disagreement. The film earns our attention by making those disagreements matter, though it occasionally lets them go on too long. The Tuscan drive gives that talk somewhere to go. Cinematographer Luca Bigazzi uses reflections to keep the passing surroundings visible alongside the people in the car, so we have something to watch while listening. We keep looking between the faces and the reflected light, noticing changes in expression as well as changes in the view. The drive gives us time to look closely at both performers, without making their surroundings feel like something added to relieve the dialogue. Production designers Giancarlo Basili and Ludovica Ferrario help make Tuscany feel like a place these people can occupy without being overwhelmed by the scenery. We can enjoy looking at the locations without losing sight of how uncomfortable the exchanges have become. The naturalistic soundtrack is useful here, too: it allows us to attend to the friction between the speakers without prescribing an emotion for every remark. We are left to decide when something has hurt. Juliette Binoche is the reason the film’s uncertainties do not become an excuse to stop caring. Elle has an urgent need to be heard, and the performance makes even the more elaborate discussions feel as if something personal depends on the reply. We were moved by the anger and tenderness passing across her face in the long takes; she seems painfully exposed while the conversation continues. We do not need a settled account of her circumstances to recognise that feeling. William Shimell makes a useful, sometimes frustrating partner. His reserve gives Juliette Binoche something to push against, though there are exchanges in which James Miller sounds too much like a position the screenplay needs defended. The early dialogue can be laborious, and an argument about authenticity is no more interesting merely because the setting is attractive. Some of these conversations could lose a few lines without losing any of the doubt they are intended to create. Editor Bahman Kiarostami generally gives the actors the time they need. Holding a face through a lengthy exchange lets us notice the effort of listening, as well as the temptation to stop. The slow pace also makes the weaker dialogue more conspicuous, because there is little opportunity to hurry past it. For the most part, though, the actors reward the attention: we stay interested in how they respond even when the subject under discussion has begun to tire us. Romantic films often make disagreement entertaining by giving both people a ready supply of sharp replies. Here, the awkwardness persists, and the uncertainty about the relationship may annoy anyone who wants clear answers. There is enough recognisable hurt and affection to make that uncertainty worth accepting. Watch it with someone willing to argue afterwards. Perhaps agree on a different subject for the journey home. *Fi1m score 84, published 16 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics respond warmly to Certified Copy, finding Kiarostami’s conversations about art, authenticity and relationships both intellectually engaging and unexpectedly moving. Praise centres on Juliette Binoche, whose performance gives the film emotional weight even for some reviewers unconvinced by its central conceit. Many also admire Shimell’s contribution and the pair’s unsettled chemistry. The use of mirrors, reflections and Tuscan driving scenes draws attention for making the film’s questions about identity work on screen. The spread is wide, however, and the chief disagreement concerns whether the ambiguity deepens the relationship or makes it difficult to care about. Even favourable reviews acknowledge a strained role-playing premise, lengthy conversations and unanswered questions. The Guardian finds the human relations contrived and the dialogue inert; Digital Spy praises the leads but finds little emotional warmth. Eye for Film is harsher on Shimell, judging his performance wooden while admiring Luca Bigazzi’s cinematography. ### Reviews we read (17) - **Slant Magazine**, Ed Gonzalez (90/100, inferred): The film is a resplendently heady yet nimble essay on art, life, landscape, and love whose emotional feeling proves it a certified copy of real life. It singles out Binoche’s profoundly emotional and philosophical consideration of mortality and loneliness in the scene watching an old couple. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/certified-copy/) - **The New York Times**, Stephen Holden (NYT Critic’s Pick): The critic praises the film as a delicious brain tickler and endless hall of mirrors, a metaphysical labyrinth about a middle-aged couple driving through Tuscany. He singles out the erudite debate on artistic authenticity and the way the story multiplies reflections on copies, originals, and identity. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/movies/juliette-binoche-in-kiarostamis-certified-copy-review.html) - **Vulture** (90/100, inferred): The film is a thrilling exploration of fluid identities and relationships that becomes intensely real despite its artifice, with tactile emotion, shocking anger, tenderness, and devastating epiphanies. It singles out Binoche’s dissolving performance in long takes and the director’s skill at car scenes. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2011/03/movie_review_certified_copy_is.html) - **The New Yorker**, Richard Brody (85/100, inferred): The critic calls the film mysterious, paradoxical, and deeply ambitious, a lovely manifesto on freedom and the bonds of self and marriage. He singles out its portrayal of the eternal return and the aesthetic value of the copy, along with its sensual and conceptual delight in light, reflections, and shifting identities. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/abbas-kiarostamis-certified-copy) - **Empire**, David Parkinson (80/100, inferred): The film is a philosophically provocative and mischievously rom-comic pastiche of bickering couple pictures, using mirrors and shifts of perspective to keep the audience guessing about the central relationship. The leads respond splendidly to Kiarostami’s playful mockery of arthouse and mainstream clichés. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/certified-copy-review/) - **Screen Daily** (80/100, inferred): This is Kiarostami’s most commercial film to date, a captivating divertissement that marries post-modern reality games with mature romantic comedy in a breezy, thought-provoking package. It conforms on one level to Hollywood genre conventions while remaining smartly Euro-friendly and targeted beyond hardcore cineastes. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/certified-copy/5014070.article) - **Time Out**, David Jenkins (4/5): Kiarostami delivers a challenging, ambiguous and moving film that requires intellectual engagement with its decontextualised relationship fragment. Binoche and Shimell deliver superb performances with off-kilter chemistry, though the central role-play premise rings slightly false. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/certified-copy-1) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, The Associated Press (70/100, inferred): The film is an engaging return to narrative cinema, a delicate bittersweet comedy set in romantic Italy that slyly explores marriage and the ways men and women fail to think alike. It features strong performances from Binoche and Shimell but is too offbeat for wide audiences. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/certified-copy-film-review-29629/) - **Evening Standard** (65/100, inferred): The unresolved ambiguity around the couple’s relationship makes the film feel empty, though it represents a strange turn for the director. Juliette Binoche is fantastically engaging and gives the film its heart, while the rigorous camerawork and naturalistic soundtrack remain great pleasures. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/certified-copy-is-worth-a-dozen-dumb-romcoms-7421411.html) - **Little White Lies**, Adam Woodward (3/3/3): The film offers poetic and cinematic beauty but little emotional gratification or investment in its characters. It questions authenticity through its central couple's interactions in Tuscany but leaves audiences frustrated by its elusive approach. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/certified-copy) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (40/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as a baffling, contrived and bizarre deconstructed portrait of a marriage with unconvincing human relations and inert dialogue. He praises Kiarostami's ambition in aspiring to a cinema of ideas but finds the overall effect strange and unreal. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/02/certified-copy-review) - **The Playlist**, Kevin Jagernauth (90/100, inferred): Kiarostami executes a simple premise with brilliant elegance in this character study of a couple whose shared past gradually reveals itself, resulting in a funny, moving, intellectually absorbing and emotionally rich film. The script’s raw realism and the lead performances, especially Binoche’s, are singled out. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/cannes-2010-review-abbas-kiarostamis-20100518/) - **Paste**, Paste Staff (85/100, inferred): The review finds the film hits on all levels, delivering a picture that is complex both formally and emotionally and showing why Kiarostami’s feature absences were sorely missed. It singles out Binoche’s performance for giving the film real emotional impact amid its intellectual games and narrative loop. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/abbas-kiarostami/certified-copy) - **Den of Geek**, Michael Leader (4/5): The film is a subtle, experimental take on romance and authenticity, using ambiguous realism and lengthy conversations to explore meaning, observation and unreliable narration. Binoche and Shimell deliver strong performances, though the wordy two-hander may not satisfy mainstream viewers seeking clear answers. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/certified-copy-review-2/) - **HeyUGuys**, Gary Phillips (70/100, inferred): The reviewer found the film enjoyable as an accessible arthouse entry with strong direction and a clever central concept about authenticity, though it remains an acquired taste due to its slow pace and unanswered questions. Binoche’s performance and the use of mirrors/reflections in the Tuscan driving scenes stand out for praise. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/certified-copy-review/) - **Digital Spy**, Simon Reynolds (40/100, inferred): Kiarostami delivers a thoughtful but cinematically inert two-hander full of lengthy conversations about love, originality and relationships that feels more suited to theatre than screen. Binoche and Shimell are strong with convincing chemistry and ambiguity, but the film stimulates the mind without touching the heart, leaving it chilly and distant. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/cannes-film-festival/a221366/cannes-2010-copie-conforme/) - **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (30/100, inferred): The review calls the intriguing premise a disappointment that fails to become the gem it could have been, weighed down by leaden early dialogue, excessive slowness, and a wooden performance from Shimell. Luca Bigazzi’s cinematography of the Tuscan locations receives praise for its beauty and immediacy. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/certified-copy-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) ## Details - **Director:** Abbas Kiarostami - **Director:** Abbas Kiarostami - **Screenplay:** Abbas Kiarostami - **Cinematography:** Luca Bigazzi - **Editor:** Bahman Kiarostami - **Production design:** Ludovica Ferrario, Giancarlo Basili - **Producer:** Nathanaël Karmitz, Charles Gillibert, Angelo Barbagallo - **Cast:** Juliette Binoche as Elle; William Shimell as James Miller; Jean-Claude Carrière as The Man at the Square; Agathe Natanson as The Woman at the Square; Gianna Giachetti as The Cafe Owner; Adrian Moore as The Son; Angelo Barbagallo as The Translator; Andrea Laurenzi as The Guide - **Runtime:** 1h 46m - **Certificate (MPA):** NR - **Release (the US):** 11 March 2011 - **Genres:** Drama, Romance - **Budget:** $7 million - **Box office:** $8 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sTf6PRFylU ## Where to watch in the US Not streaming, renting or buying in the US at the last check. Also available in: AR, BR, CL, CO, ES, FR, GB, IE, MX, PA, SE. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Before Sunset* (2004), Fi1m 91: Two people walk and talk, with years of unfinished feeling between them. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/before-sunset.md) - *Journey to Italy* (1954), Fi1m 84: Another Italian journey exposes a couple’s unhappiness through small, persistent disagreements. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/journey-to-italy.md) - *Hiroshima mon amour* (1959): Intimacy and uncertain memories complicate a romance that resists easy explanations. - *In the Mood for Love* (2000), Fi1m 91: Two neighbours struggle to contain feelings that their careful manners keep betraying. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/in-the-mood-for-love.md) - *Brief Encounter* (1945), Fi1m 90: Ordinary conversations become difficult when two people cannot admit what they want. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/brief-encounter.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/certified-copy