Certified Copy is a romantic, picturesque movie that is held together through intellectual dialogue and the presence of Juliette Binoche as the lead actress. Binoche, a French actress best known for her performance in The English Patient (1996) for which she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, took home the Best Actress Award at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival for this film. It is easy to see why she won for Certified Copy, as she gives a modestly lovely performance speaking in both English and Italian.
Binoche plays Elle, an art gallery owner who attends the press conference of an English writer, James Miller (played by William Shimell), who is promoting his new book which just happens to be titled Certified Copy. The book is apparently about forgery in the art world and Miller is giving a rather boring lecture on it when Elle is forced to leave by her school-aged son who walks in and demands her attention. Later on she invites Miller (with whom she is quite smitten) out for coffee, and then ends up taking him for an afternoon drive during which they tour the Tuscan countryside. While they are in a quaint little café (which is exactly what you might imagine an Italian café to be), the writer goes out to take a phone call and is then mistaken for Binoche’s husband by the Italian woman who runs the café. From there, Binoche and the woman discuss marriage and family younger woman to wiser, older woman.
When the author returns, Binoche lets him in on the “joke” and for the rest of the afternoon Elle and James continue the charade playing out what would look like a real relationship to any outsiders. The two get so passionate about their fake relationship; it seems as if they have even forgotten that they are acting, as Elle colorfully berates her in Italian “husband” about his absence and lack of fathering to their son. He in turn fires right back at her that likely foreshadows how a genuine relationship would exist between these two.
Although I enjoyed the cinematography and beautiful language of Certified Copy, embarrassingly I have to admit it took me a while to understand what was going on between Binoche and Shimell’s characters. It is not blatantly obvious that they are acting out a bogus relationship, and at times it feels like they are estranged spouses only pretending to meet for the first time. I guess this means that the actors did a tremendous job and that I was perhaps distracted by the beauty or subtitles in this film.
Overall, Certified Copy is very likable despite the absence of the action or conflict that usually carries a film’s momentum. I do not want to call it slow-paced as that suggests that it is boring, but I’d rather call it not fast-paced meaning that its momentum is carried out by picturesque moments and some really incredible acting. If you are not a fan of Binoche thus far, this film will definitely turn you into one.
