Were they completely interpretating?

Kiarostami almost always uses non professional first time actors and actresses. You won't get anywhere looking into them since their only experiences are usually one time shots in single kiarostami movies (the exceptins being some of the child actors that appear in successive kiarostami movies.) However, if you want to learn more than you should research Kiarostami himself. he does not often speak of his own films, and when he does he's reluctant to go into great detail or overexplain things. however, there are some interviews worth checking out that deal with his general movie catalog that may shed some light on this movie. i forgot the websites but if you just google 'abbas kiarostami interviews' you'll find a few i'm sure. Also, i would like to add one further thing. I am iranian and understood most of the dialogue in the original farsi. However, I must say the english subtitles were not always accurate. more importantly, the english subtitles made the language seem more straightforward, banal, and stilted. in the original farsi the language is looser and more natural sounding. I cannot help thinking this is one reason some people did not like the movie. it really lost a lot in translation I believe. part of it is just that some farsi idioms don't make much sense in english so they have to be replaced with more banal english approximations of them (not that english is banal. the point is that the english 'general gist of the original' style translation covers over a lot of the creativity in the original language). moreover, when they do translate some of the idioms in english they sound more flowery and longwinded than they woould appear to farsi speakers. this is simply because the latter view the culture from inside and do not take the idioms literally whereas non farsi viewers have to figure out what the idioms mean and hence take them at face value. also, farsi is more 'colorful' and 'sugary' a language than english, so it doesn't translate well. sorry to harp on about this but i believe it to be a serious point. the dialogue seemed completely scripted and stilted in the english subtitles but seemed perfectly natural, if anything too natural, in the farsi original. with kiarostamis minimalistic leanings in general, and this films heavy leaning on dialogue, this can make or break ones experience of the movie. a lot of this can be repaired simply by trying to capture more of the color of an original language whenever possible instead of translating it in such a way where one just gets 'more or less' the meaning intended in a third as many words. I often find it funny when a character talks for 15 seconds really fast and the subtitles only have him saying like four words. I mean he's saying something else the other 12 seconds isn't he? well why not translate it for non farsi viewers. the risks involved in losing people because of too many subtitles are outweighed by the 'general gist in a third the lines' style that has butchered too many movies. some of it is unavoidable for simple comprehension issues (e.g., while a farsi phrase that literally means 'choke to death' would be misleading if so translated, still the english 'be quiet'is a bit of an understatement. this is an extremely mild example by the way), however, when avoidable, the translation should stay as close to the length and literalness of the original as possible to capture the colors and subtle nuances in all languages. this was decidedly not even attempted for this movie.

oh, i see it now, its middle ground, thats strange, if just for that this film should get 10, from fiction we got life, thats masterpiece.

Actuly I found the dialogues very cliche and anoying. Her use of Shamloo's poem in the beginning of the film for instance was very fake and unrealistic. director wanted to say that he knows shamloo otherwise it was so irrelevent to be cited.

I didn't know the movie before watching it (but I knew it had received good reviews). In the end I was convinced it was real life filmed with an hidden camera (I watched it with English subtitles). Honestly, I’m a bit ashamed now but please note some features that contributed to my illusion:
- hiding the prostitute (as you would do in a documentary);
- hiding the old lady;
- the behaviour of the characters, perfectly natural, while waiting for the driver;
- the insistence of the driver to take longer drives (?) than necessary (with the prostitute, forcing a conversation, and with Amin);
- and great acting, natural acting, by Amin and the woman who was about to lose her boyfriend.
Afterwards, as I prefer, I started reading about the movie and, well, I was wrong…
Let me add a comment since, unfortunately, Iran is now in the centre of an international crisis (I’m western, male). I wonder how things could be different… if women were allowed a greater role in Iran, or if there were no Taliban-like religious extremists in Iran (and everywhere). Didn’t you sympathise with these Iranian women? Didn’t you feel disturbed with Amin’s criticisms because they reflected widespread social ideas about the role of men and women? If a conflict starts between, well.., West and Iran, because of this mad Iranian president, is this fair for the normal, simple people who just want to have a normal life? Well, I think this is another discussion…
If you want to know more about Iran, its history and the role of Iranian women you must read “Persepolis”, by Marjane Satrapis, an incredible and wonderful autobiography in comics.

well..amin was the real sun of mania akbari..and mania had a real divorce in her life..and most of the discussions between 2 of them happened in the real life of them. amin was playing himself,thats why he was so brilliant

the scene where the young girl shows her head withouth hair was incredible..it was like the scene in "FRIDA" where salma hayek shorten her hair to get rid of the past,and to escape from feminin restrictions

watch "Ten on Ten".
Ten lessons on cinema by kiarostami himself talking while driving, he explains a lot on cinema and particulary on Ten.
insightful.

The persona are non-actors but they were "playing" their role.