--- title: "Through the Olive Trees" year: 1994 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/through-the-olive-trees" fi1m_id: "through-the-olive-trees" imdb_id: "tt0111845" tmdb_id: 47104 wikidata_id: "Q2485167" fi1m_score: 77 critics_reviews: 3 published: "2026-09-26T02:28:28.521602+00:00" updated: "2026-09-26T02:28:29.022486+00:00" region: "SI" 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." --- # Through the Olive Trees (1994) Directed by Abbas Kiarostami · 1h 44m · Drama ## Identity Through the Olive Trees - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/through-the-olive-trees - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** through-the-olive-trees - **IMDb ID:** tt0111845 - **TMDB ID:** 47104 - **Wikidata ID:** Q2485167 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111845/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/47104, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2485167 **Fi1m score: 77** · Critics: 3 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* The film director can wait; we would rather get to know the villagers > Abbas Kiarostami’s rural drama is warm, quietly affecting and occasionally too patient for its own good. The nonprofessional performers make it worth the time, though its slight action leaves some stretches feeling longer than they need to. ## Synopsis Rural Iran provides the setting for a drama in which fiction and everyday life overlap. Hossein (Hossein Rezai), Tahereh (Tahereh Ladanian), Farhad (Farhad Kheradmand) and Mrs. Shiva (Zarifeh Shiva) appear alongside a Film Director (Mohammadali Keshavarz). The inhabitants of a rural community become the focus of a film that uses nonprofessional performers and questions how much separates a person from a part. Attention rests on the people and their lives, with little conventional action to drive the story forwards. ## Review *Through the Olive Trees* is an affecting, sometimes over-patient drama whose people give us good reason to stay. Abbas Kiarostami brings fiction and rural life into close contact, with little conventional action to hurry either along. The interest lies in the inhabitants and in the business of turning their lives into something we can watch. His curiosity about those people sustains the film through most of its slower stretches. With a Film Director (Mohammadali Keshavarz) among the characters, the business of making a film is never far from our thoughts. Hossein Rezai plays Hossein, Tahereh Ladanian plays Tahereh and Farhad Kheradmand appears as Farhad. Those shared names make the overlap between person and part especially noticeable. They cannot tell us how much is invented, of course. We were moved by the nonprofessional performers, whose connection to the rural community gives the film a closeness that no elaborate plot could guarantee. That closeness matters because a film about filming other people can become pleased with its own cleverness. Here, the rural inhabitants have enough presence to keep that tendency in check. Their resilience is affecting, though the question of what has been invented occasionally becomes a distraction. Once we have registered the uncertainty, we are ready to get on with knowing them. Hossein Jafarian and Farhad Saba’s cinematography makes the rural setting feel inhabited. We are interested in it because of the people who live there, which seems the right measure of the photography’s success. Abbas Kiarostami also handles the production design, and there is no sense of the surroundings competing with the cast for our admiration. The place holds our attention without becoming the only thing there is to look at. The main reservation is pace. He also edits, and across 104 minutes the slight action sometimes leaves our attention with too little to do. The writing, credited to Hengameh Panahi and Abbas Kiarostami, gives the overlap of fiction and lived experience plenty of attention. There are stretches when we feel we have understood the approach and are waiting for our understanding of the people to deepen. The music, credited to Chema Rosas and Amir Farshid Rahimian, does not make us feel instructed in how to respond. Our affection stays with the performers. The film belongs with dramas that ask us to take everyday lives seriously without promising a succession of large events. Such films still need movement, and this one occasionally mistakes our willingness to wait for an unlimited supply of patience. We would recommend it to anyone with a taste for quiet, self-conscious drama and an interest in how people appear before a camera. The slow stretches are part of the price, and we cannot pretend every one of them earns its place. Do not choose it to fill the time while doing something else. *Fi1m score 77, published 26 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Through the Olive Trees worth watching?** *Through the Olive Trees* is worth watching if we have a taste for quiet, patient drama; we score it 77 out of 100. The nonprofessional performers make its rural community affecting, but the slight action and slow stretches demand sustained attention, and not every stretch earns its length. **How long is Through the Olive Trees, and what is it rated?** *Through the Olive Trees* runs 1h 44m. It is a drama film. **Where can I watch Through the Olive Trees in Slovenia?** *Through the Olive Trees* is not on any streaming or rental service in Slovenia at the moment. It is available in 2 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How does Through the Olive Trees compare to Close-Up?** *Through the Olive Trees* is the more narrowly appealing choice beside [*Close-Up*](https://film.one/film/close-up), which we recommend even to those wary of films about cinema. Both patiently explore performance and identity, but *Close-Up* centres on a real impersonation case, while *Through the Olive Trees* finds its warmth among rural inhabitants whose lives overlap with filmmaking. **What should I watch after Through the Olive Trees?** After *Through the Olive Trees*, try [*Close-Up*](https://film.one/film/close-up) (1990, Fi1m 92): Another patient encounter with performance, identity and the people caught between them. Then [*Columbus*](https://film.one/film/columbus) (2017, Fi1m 82): Quiet conversations and lived-in places matter more than a busy plot. ### Reviews we read (3) - **Variety**, Deborah Young (70/100, inferred): Young finds the film’s approach to fiction and reality moving and its portrait of rural resilience affecting, though its minimal action may lull some viewers. She especially praises how the nonprofessional actors connect audiences directly with the area’s real inhabitants. [Read](https://variety.com/1994/film/reviews/under-the-olive-trees-1200437095/) - **The New York Times** (66/100, inferred): The URL identifies this as a festival review, but the blocked page does not reveal the critic’s verdict. Its headline points to a focus on how the film blurs truth and fiction in rural Iran. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/24/movies/film-festival-review-blurring-truth-and-fiction-in-rural-iran.html) - **Time Out**, GA (64/100, inferred): The page identifies this as a review, but the review text is unavailable, so its verdict cannot be determined. No specific praise or complaint can be verified from the provided material. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/through-the-olive-trees) ## Details - **Director:** Abbas Kiarostami - **Director:** Abbas Kiarostami - **Writer:** Abbas Kiarostami, Hengameh Panahi - **Cinematography:** Hossein Jafarian, Farhad Saba - **Editor:** Abbas Kiarostami - **Music:** Chema Rosas, Amir Farshid Rahimian - **Production design:** Abbas Kiarostami - **Producer:** Alain Depardieu, Abbas Kiarostami - **Cast:** Mohammadali Keshavarz as Film Director; Farhad Kheradmand as Farhad; Zarifeh Shiva as Mrs. Shiva; Hossein Rezai as Hossein; Tahereh Ladanian as Tahereh; Mahbanou Darabi as Madar Bozorg; Ahmed Ahmadpour as Self; Babek Ahmadpour as Self - **Runtime:** 1h 44m - **First release (IR):** 1 February 1994 - **Genres:** Drama - **Box office:** $40,300 ## Where to watch in Slovenia Not streaming, renting or buying in Slovenia at the last check. Also available in: BR, FR. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - International Submission to the Academy Awards 1995: International Submission to the Academy Awards (nominated) ## If you liked this - *Close-Up* (1990), Fi1m 92: Another patient encounter with performance, identity and the people caught between them. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/close-up.md) - *Day for Night* (1973): For filmmaking as daily work, with affection for the people doing it. - *After Life* (1998): Quiet filmmaking becomes a way to attend closely to other people’s lives. - *The Green Ray* (1986): Ordinary encounters reward close attention, with room for awkwardness and uncertainty. - *Columbus* (2017), Fi1m 82: Quiet conversations and lived-in places matter more than a busy plot. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/columbus.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/through-the-olive-trees