windows and mirrors / views and reflections
Like everyone, I have my own views on the film, the relationship of James and ? (i don't even think Binoche's character has a name) and what the film is trying to say. To start with, I find it fascinating how the film begins and ends.
I find it curious that the film begins with James being absent from a scheduled lecture. When he does show up, late..he begins to talk about his theories to the room assembled without being the least bothered by Binoche's character (who is making a fuss in the reserved seats in the front row)
The ending shows James looking deeply into a mirror at himself. He steps away from the frame and the audience is left staring out a window, as a church bell sounds from a distance, in a darkening sky.
It seems that TIME is of vital importance to the movie. The idea that .... it is getting late....
Another thing I find curious is Kiarostami's use of mirror's and windows. Both characters have a long scene of themselves looking into a mirror. James' look, at the end, seems introspective. Binoche's is more of vanity, and love for James. In the restaurant scene, a window is directly behind James as Binoche fights to direct her focus between him and a wedding party behind. At the hotel room, she tells James to look at something outside the window, something he can't see or remember seeing years before. and then the film's final image out the window. These images seem to point out that James (representing all of us men) has difficulty seeing his life beyond himself as an individual (.. I live my life, my family lives theirs) and that he does not have much time left to undo many things, time is passing.. and that dusk is settling in.
This movie is Kiarostami's indictment of modern man's view of what it is to be a man. The CERTIFIED COPY, I think, is man himself, going through the motions of being a real man, when in fact most are living solely for themselves, their careers, their tastes, their choices. In time, they may regret those choices.