Abbas Kiarostami's "Certified Copy" is not necessarily a puzzle film that expects you to decipher its meaning, as much as I believe, a film that states outright that relationships and marriage are often a mystery that even days, months or years of contemplation will never truly uncover its reasons for being. It is an example of a film whose interpretation often depends on the person watching it, particularly how one feels about the relationships between men and women.
For the most part, "Copy" is a two-hander between a British writer James Miller (played by William Shimell) and a nameless woman (played by Juliette Binoche). Miller is in Tuscany to give a talk about his new book which argues that there is nothing authentic in art. Every reproduction is in some way an original and every original is a reproduction. He then spends a day with Binoche's woman with no name, who owns an antique shop, though she admits she knows very little about antiques. She takes Miller out for a day where they, first, debate the ideas of his book, especially when she tries to apply his theories about art to life itself.
Throughout the course of the day, these two characters seem to step out from the movie themselves and play the parts of a couple, possibly married for 15 years, to sort out whether their feelings for one another are authentic or just merely copies.
