Certified Copy (2010)

Interesting facts

Certified Copy is a 2010 art film written and directed by Abbas Kiarostami. Set in Tuscany, the film focuses on a British writer and a French antiques dealer, whose relationship undergoes an odd transformation over the course of a day. The film is a co-production of France, Italy and Belgium. The dialogue is in English, French and Italian.

Production

Abbas Kiarostami and Juliette Binoche first met and became friends in the mid-1990s. Since then they had both desired to work together and in 2008 Binoche appeared briefly in Kiarostami's experimental film Shirin. During a visit to Tehran by Binoche, Kiarostami told Binoche the synopsis of Certified Copy as a casual anecdote, which she said that she fully believed until he confessed to having made it up.

The film suffered from several delays and changes in the cast. Filming was originally supposed to start in October 2007 with English as the principal language. A second attempt was planned for March 2008, this time mainly in French and with Sami Frey opposite Binoche. Next up to be attached was François Cluzet, with filming scheduled to begin in May 2009.

Production was led by MK2 in co-production with France 3 Cinéma and the Italian company BiBi Film. Funding was granted by the CNC and via pre-sales to Canal+. The budget was €3.8 million.

Filming finally began on 8 June 2009 on location in Tuscany, using locations in Cortona, Lucignano and Arezzo. Kiarostami is normally known for making films with amateur actors and almost no budget, but said he had no difficulties in making the transition to European cinema: "This was the simplest film for me to work on—even more simple than the work I've done on my shorts, because I was working with a professional team both in front of and behin…

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