--- title: "Close-Up" year: 1990 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/close-up" fi1m_id: "close-up" imdb_id: "tt0100234" tmdb_id: 30017 wikidata_id: "Q498277" fi1m_score: 92 critics_score: 89 critics_reviews: 9 published: "2026-09-13" updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:11.121286+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." --- # Close-Up (1990) Directed by Abbas Kiarostami · 1h 38m · MPA NR · Crime, Drama ## Identity Close-Up - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/close-up - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** close-up - **IMDb ID:** tt0100234 - **TMDB ID:** 30017 - **Wikidata ID:** Q498277 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100234/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/30017, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q498277 **Fi1m score: 92** · Critics 89 from 9 reviews *In a sentence:* A fraud trial in which loving films starts to sound like a perfectly reasonable defence > Abbas Kiarostami turns a real impersonation case into a patient, funny and unexpectedly moving film about wanting to matter. Its slow passages ask for attention, but we recommend it even to those wary of films about cinema. ## Synopsis Watching Sabzian stands at the centre of a real impersonation case that becomes a film about his own deception. Abbas Kiarostami follows the fraud trial and brings the people involved back to reconstruct events, with Sabzian, Monoochehr Ahankhah and Mahrokh Ahankhah appearing as themselves. As testimony and performance alternate, Sabzian’s attachment to cinema becomes part of the story under examination. The account of what he has done opens into questions about why he does it, how others see him and what it means to play a part before a camera. ## Review *Close-Up* asks us to take an impersonator seriously, and makes that request seem reasonable. Abbas Kiarostami’s film combines footage of a real fraud trial with scenes reconstructed by the people involved, including Watching Sabzian, the accused. Across 98 minutes, it gives his passion for cinema the patient attention usually reserved for the details of a crime. We would recommend it without requiring any prior interest in how films are made: the wish to be noticed is enough to understand it. Watching Sabzian take part in the reconstruction of his own deception is initially peculiar. We know that he has impersonated someone, and now the film is asking him to perform again while offering us a chance to understand him. Kiarostami, who also wrote and edited the film, moves between the trial and the reconstructed scenes without explaining away that discomfort. The editing keeps us alert to how readily a performance can win our sympathy, even when we have been warned about the performer. Ali Reza Zarrindast’s cinematography gives Sabzian’s face time and space, and the plain images make that scrutiny feel unusually direct. The closeness matters because we have to watch someone explaining himself without the reassurance of a polished performance. Kiarostami also lets long takes drift towards ordinary activity, delaying the business that a tidier courtroom drama would hurry to reach. Kambiz Roshanravan’s music is effective, though the emotional weight falls chiefly on the time the camera allows Sabzian. We were moved by Sabzian’s attempts to explain his attachment to cinema. What gets to us is how seriously his need to feel like somebody is heard, without being reduced to an eccentric detail in a fraud report. Sabzian’s participation adds an awkwardness that a smoother performance might lose. There is humour in the distance between his deception and his devotion, and the film lets us recognise the absurdity without inviting us to despise him. Our reservation is about Kiarostami’s control of the encounter. The reconstructions make his involvement visible, yet the film’s warmth can still encourage us to accept its sympathetic account of Sabzian too easily. We wanted a little more resistance to that sympathy, particularly when the fascination with performance risks crowding out the consequences of deception. The unhurried pace will also frustrate anyone seeking a tightly argued courtroom drama, though we found the waiting largely justified by what it lets us observe. A conventional fraud drama might ask us to enjoy being cleverer than the impostor. *Close-Up* makes that position uncomfortable, because Sabzian’s love of cinema is taken seriously enough to become recognisable. We can question his explanations and still feel that the time spent hearing them has been worthwhile. Give it an uninterrupted evening; the slow passages are part of what we are recommending. *Fi1m score 92, published 13 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Close-Up worth watching?** *Close-Up* is worth watching for anyone interested in why a person might pretend to be someone else, and we scored it 92. Abbas Kiarostami combines footage of a real fraud trial with scenes reconstructed by the people involved, and gives the accused, Watching Sabzian, unusual patience. The pace is slow and asks for an uninterrupted evening. **How long is Close-Up, and what is it rated?** *Close-Up* runs 1h 38m and is rated NR by the MPA in the US. It is a crime and drama film. **Where can I watch Close-Up in the US?** *Close-Up* is streaming on The Criterion Channel in the US. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is Close-Up, and is it suitable for children?** *Close-Up* contains no violence to speak of and nothing frightening; it is a film about a fraud trial, built from courtroom footage and quiet reconstructed scenes. It carries no UK certificate and is unrated in the US. Children would not be disturbed by it, but its unhurried talk about deception and cinema is unlikely to hold them. ### Reviews we read (9) - **Slant Magazine**, Ed Gonzalez (95/100, inferred): Kiarostami recognizes the significance of Sabzian's impersonation as an affront to realism rooted in genuine passion for art and cinema as emancipator. The film is the definitive commentary on film itself, with its genius lying in making the spectator share that passion through intimate camerawork and the authenticity of closeness. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/close-up/) - **The AV Club**, Noel Murray (A): The film blends documentary footage of a real trial with re-enactments to explore the blurred lines between pretense and truth, art and reality. Kiarostami's formal daring, including long takes that shift focus from plot to everyday moments, makes it bracing and philosophically rich. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/close-up-1798165426) - **Los Angeles Times**, Dennis Lim (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it Kiarostami’s most complete and intricate examination of illusion and cinema, the emblematic work of the Iranian New Wave. He singles out the way the film blends documentary and reenactment, with all participants playing themselves, to explore identity and the power of movies. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jun-09-la-et-second-20100609-story.html) - **The Independent** (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it a stunning meditation on reality, fiction and the film-maker's role. Kiarostami's generous use of non-actors in a real-life based story creates a moving, humane work that realises the protagonist's dream of cinematic recognition. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/new-films-close-up-directed-by-abbas-kiarostami-nc-1289548.html) - **The New Yorker**, Richard Brody (90/100, inferred): The capsule describes the reflexive 1990 drama about an impostor who poses as a director and Kiarostami’s re-enactment of the case with the real participants. It praises the ironic politics and the way the film’s calmly unwavering images, wry humor, and generous sympathy resist religious dogma. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/close-up) - **The New York Times**, Stephen Holden (90/100, inferred): The film is a brilliant, knotty work that seamlessly blends dramatized reconstructions with documentary footage of a real fraud case. It stands out for its radically drab cinema-verite style that blurs the line between reality and reconstruction while exploring the pathos of a man's longing to feel like somebody through impersonation. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/31/movies/film-review-the-pathos-of-deceit-by-a-victim-of-longing.html) - **Time Out**, GA (90/100, inferred): Kiarostami's masterpiece alternates trial scenes with reconstructions to interrogate fiction, documentary, truth and falsehood in a complex yet clear narrative. It is enormously intelligent, witty, poignant, engrossing and ends with a sharp deconstruction of film form. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/close-up-1) - **Sight and Sound**, Geoff Andrew (70/100, inferred): The film blurs documentary and fiction through its fragmented narrative of a fraud trial and re-enactments. It reveals the accused as a decent man while exploring truth, reality and the director's role, driven by compassion and philosophical curiosity. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/3b863389-5735-5b97-86c2-7e52217a7517/close-up) - **The Playlist**, Christopher Bell (A): The critic praises the film's genre-bending experiment that plays with cinematic and documentary truth through a real-life impersonation story, using actual participants and trial footage. It stands out for its sly humor, deconstructionism, and straightforward fulfillment compared to the director's other work. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/best-films-abbas-kiarostami-20160705/) ## Details - **Director:** Abbas Kiarostami - **Director:** Abbas Kiarostami - **Writer:** Abbas Kiarostami - **Cinematography:** Alireza Zarrindast - **Editor:** Abbas Kiarostami - **Music:** Kambiz Roshanravan - **Producer:** Hassan Agha Karimi - **Cast:** Hossain Sabzian as Self; Monoochehr Ahankhah as Self; Mahrokh Ahankhah as Self; Abolfazl Ahankhah as Self; Mehrdad Ahankhah as Self; Nayer Mohseni Zonoozi as Self; Hossain Farazmand as Reporter; Ahmad Reza Moayed Mohseni as Family Friend - **Runtime:** 1h 38m - **Certificate (MPA):** NR - **Release (the US):** 31 December 1999 - **Genres:** Crime, Drama ## Where to watch in the US - The Criterion Channel: streaming *Checked 2026-09-13.* Also available in: CA, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *F for Fake* (1973): Orson Welles enjoys deception while making our faith in filmed evidence less comfortable. - *Camera Buff* (1979): An amateur film-maker discovers how much trouble a camera can cause at home. - *The Apple* (1998): Real participants revisit their own lives, with the camera’s involvement impossible to ignore. - *The Imposter* (2012): Another impersonation case, told with more suspense and a colder view of deception. - *Four Daughters* (2023): Reconstruction becomes a difficult family conversation, with the performers’ presence kept in view. --- © 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/close-up