Close-Up

I LOVE THIS <3 i had to write an essay on this for my film class, so i'd figured i'd just put it here too: Close-Up (1990) serves as a reminder to its audience just how easily film can shape how a person views themselves. The film does not just tell a story. It becomes part of the main character, Sabzian’s, identity and gives him a world he cannot reach in real life. Watching him move between truth and performance shows how powerful cinema can be when someone is searching for a better version of themselves. Director Abbas Kiarostami shows that Sabzian’s identity is not fixed but is built from social pressure, poverty, and the dream of belonging. Through a mix of documentary and performance, the film exposes how identity becomes something Sabzian performs in order to survive in 1980s Tehran, Iran. Sabzian’s identity is shaped by his environment of poverty and social marginalization, and Kiarostami reveals this visually through cramped spaces and framing that emphasize how boxed in his life feels. The opening sequence on the crowded bus, where Sabzian sits tightly pressed between other passengers while reading the script for The Cyclist (1987), is framed in a cramped medium shot that limits the space around him. Later, in the courtroom, Kiarostami uses prolonged close-ups that hold his face in the center of the frame. These visual choices show how Sabzian lives in a world that gives him almost no room to breathe. The crowded bus makes his life feel physically restricted, and the close-ups make his emotional state feel just as tight. He looks overwhelmed every time the camera closes in on him. His eyes drop, and he rarely makes direct eye contact. These moments show how he has learned to shrink himself because the world around him constantly reminds him of his position. During the trial, Sabzian says, “My poverty has crushed my pride” (Close-Up 00:41:00 - 00:42:55). This line confirms what the visuals already suggest. He understands that society sees him as someone who should have no ambition and no voice. The statement is honest and painful. It shows that his identity has been shaped by repeated experiences of being dismissed. He does not impersonate Makhmalbaf for money. He does it because he wants a life that feels bigger than the one he has. In the end, the film makes it clear that Sabzian’s environment has shaped his identity so deeply that he turns to performance just to feel seen. Societal expectations about art, status, and who “counts” as a legitimate creator push Sabzian to perform an identity that isn’t his own. The film visualizes this through reenactments and ambiguous staging that show his identity slipping between truth and performance. The reenacted scenes where Sabzian impersonates Makhmalbaf inside the Ahankhah family’s home show this clearly. He directs the sons as if he were a real filmmaker, and the handheld documentary style makes the moment feel both staged and real. The camera moves with a loose and uncertain rhythm, which reflects the instability of his chosen identity. The ambiguous final sequence of Sabzian and the real Makhmalbaf riding the motorcycle takes this even further. It is shot from a distance with shaky audio that cuts in and out. The viewer cannot tell if this is an authentic reunion or another reconstruction, though this does not take away from the impact of the moment. This uncertainty mirrors Sabzian’s own struggle. He wants to step into a world that will finally take him seriously, yet the film makes it impossible to know when he is acting and when he is being himself. During the trial, Sabzian says, “The film spoke to me, and I wanted to be in that world” (Close-Up 36:57 - 38:41). This moment explains exactly why he impersonates Mohsen Makhmalbaf. He believes that cinema offers a form of dignity that society has never given him. The statement reveals how deeply he internalizes the idea that creative worth only exists for those who already have status. In the end, the film shows that Sabzian performs identity because society defines art in a way that excludes people like him. Close-Up (1990) shows that identity is shaped through the pressures of class and the dream that cinema makes possible. Sabzian becomes a powerful example of how a person can use film to imagine a life beyond what society allows. Director Abbas Kiarostami argues that cinema can blur the line between who we are and who we hope to become. Through this mix of reality and performance, the film suggests that identity is never fixed. It is something created through vision, desire, and the worlds we build for ourselves.