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Total Film: The Modern Guide to The Movies

Reviews

Watching the emotional reactions of some women to a poem can only hold your interest for so long...

Jun 16th 2009 By Neil Smith

Next time you go to the flicks, turn around and spend the whole film staring at the audience.

You’re sure to have as rewarding an experience as that offered by Abbas Kiarostami in this austere experiment, an interminable series of close-ups of a hundred-odd Iranian actresses – plus a tearful Juliette Binoche – wordlessly reacting to an adaptation of a 12th Century poem we hear but never see.

Admittedly, there is a hypnotic quality to the women’s rapt expressions that initially proves beguiling.

Once the curiosity factor’s gone, though, you’re left with 90 minutes of unmitigated tedium that’s really one long art installation.