18 April 2011

Certified Copy (2010)

☻ ☻ ☻ Certified Copy (2010). A Tuscan art gallery owner (Juliette Binoche, who won as Best Actress at Cannes for the part) attends a talk given by a British author, James Miller (opera star William Shimell), on his book about artistic originality and authenticity. Her adolescent son demands that she leave early and then accuses her of seeking a relationship with the writer.


Later, having taken the man for a drive out of town, we learn they have seen each other before. The nature of this remains ambiguous. The only certainty is that each is the survivor of a broken alliance.


The UK trailer

Stopping for coffee, they are mistaken for a married couple. And so begins a mutual act in which they both play the part assigned. She castigates him for opting out of the raising of their son. How could he have cared so little for her that he refused to shave on their wedding day? He retaliates, demanding to know how she could have been so careless of their child that she fell asleep at the wheel despite the child's presence.


The story flows in and around the two. Sometimes they speak to each other in the present. Sometimes to their departed spouse. He argues in terms of art and aspiration; she about the grim realities of being a single parent. Periodically, he refuses to play along, while she seems to fly off into flights of fancy, attempting to regain the lost magic of youthful marriage.


Are we witnessing an estranged couple or has each checked out of reality for the day? Who knows?


Each understands the other, and so do we. Does it truly matter if they're dealing in metaphor or in actual events?


Sometimes painful, but always pertinent. It's an interesting spin on the eternal he said, she said.Watch how the writer's subject impacts reality and perception.


If your a meat and potatoes person with no time for art house films, this one won't disappoint. You're sure to hate it.


Speaking out:

  86%/68% rottentomatoes.com (18 Apr 2011*)
  7.2/10  imdb.com (18 Apr 2011*)

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* Date of web access.

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