Close-Up

Sight and Sound’s Greatest Films of All Time watch challenge #248 - (film 17 out of 264) Close-Up was the first Kiarostami film I had ever seen. When I saw it last year I was completely blown away and was very excited to delve into more of his filmography, all of which has been an absolute delight. The craft he puts into portraying life and ordinary people elevates the ordinary to the extraordinary, Close-Up being no exception. While the simplistic framing of compositions of the curious trial central to the story could be seen as amateur or unpolished, it is the layers upon layers behind, before, in front of, and beyond the camera that makes Close-Up so fantastic. The film tells the story of an actual court case between the Ahankhah family and Hossain Sabzian, who had spent several days with the family impersonating famed Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf. Charged with fraud due to borrowing 1900 tomas from one of the sons, Hossain is eventually arrested after his impersonation is found out. However, by that time he had spent a lot of time with the family, still pretending to be a director. A huge part of what makes the simplistic courtroom scenes so gripping is the contrast between it and the reenacted scenes. In the moment itself, Kiarostami is filming the actual trial as it occurs. However, outside of the film, when Kiarostami moves the viewer to past events, those flashbacks are being acted out by the very same people who the case involves. This contrast between the acted self of the flashbacks and the genuine self of the trial brings to question human identity. Sabzian played a role in order to feel like he wasn’t unimportant, to feel better about himself, and he is made to return back to that same role for the sake of this film alongside those who had accused him of fraud playing the role of someone who fell for his impersonation. It’s beautiful exactly how these pieces of film, sandwiched between reality, bring to question reality itself and the facade people put on for the sake of others and themselves.