My friend Jessica, aka “Lobby” of The Velvet Café and the
Filmspotting Forum is a wonderful film blogger.
One of the best, actually (you can see a link to her site on the
sidebar). She has wonderful opinions of
film and she expresses them in such a personal, interesting way. However, sometimes—only occasionally, mind
you—she is terribly wrong.
For instance, I would claim that 2011 has produced three
masterpieces of film. Perhaps more,
after all I haven’t watched A Separation yet or This Is Not a Film. But there are three that will be discussed
and watched happily for decades to come: Tree of Life, Melancholia and Certified
Copy. Jessica didn’t really care for two
of them, and hasn’t watched the third and probably is now nervous about
watching the third, because I have lumped them all together.
Although I might want to defend Tree of Life, I am here to
talk about Certified Copy. Jessica said
that she wasn’t really interested in a very long art discussion. And it’s true, I wouldn’t either. And that’s what the film begins with—a discussion
about whether a piece of art is to be valued equally as it’s certified copy. It’s an interesting notion, but one that has
been discussed to death in other good films like F is for Fake, My Kid Could
Paint That and Exit Through the Gift Shop. The subject has been exhausted, and
I would be exhausted to watch another film about it.
But Certified Copy is not about art. It’s about relationships.
It is using the example of a single relationship, which at
times is a courtship and at times is a couple fifteen years married, to talk about the nature of relationships in
general—all of our relationships, but especially our most intimate,
long-standing ones.
There are many questions the film brings up about our
relationships:
Do we change over time or are we just perceived differently
by others?
Is our value intrinsically our own, or do we only have the
value others give us?
Must our relationships have a goal, or is it enough that we
just enjoy the experience?
Is the goal of life to produce, or to be happy?
Is it acceptable to avoid the difficult things in
relationships, or should we work at “fixing” them?
I admit that the film is a difficult one to watch. The two principles, brilliantly portrayed by
Juliette Binoche and William Shimell, spend most of the film arguing,
bickering. The fact that we don’t know
whether the couple are complete strangers or deeply intimate is a
distraction.
Actually, let’s talk about that—see how much of a
distraction it is? But it goes into
the theme of the film. At the beginning of the film, it seems
obvious that William and Juliette don’t know each other, that she’s attracted
to him, but also extremely upset at some of his opinions. About halfway through the film, they speak as
if they have had a rocky marriage, one in which he separated himself from her
and their son for most of the marriage.
They also have connection with another couple who are getting married in
the same place they got married 15 years ago.
And most of the way through the film, they pass an older couple, leaning
on each other in order to walk.
I believe that all four of these portraits are of their
marriage, or that they all speak to different parts of the same marriage, or
all marriages. There is the courtship,
where we are getting to know each other.
Then the wedding, in which the relationship is most idealistic. Then a number of years later when the ideals
are cast aside and a choice is made to continue to live together or to
separate. And, finally, old age where
the decision to remain together leads to interdependence.
What I believe the film is saying is that all four of these
stages are the same marriage. They aren’t
different relationships, but the same one.
The individuals haven’t really changed.
But each stage gives them a new opportunity to perceive each other and
how we value each other differently.
And this is why I love this film: I have never watched a
film that more helps me understand the nature of long term relationships. Mind you, I haven’t seen Scenes From a
Marriage yet (although I will soon), but this film is deeper and more
thoughtful about relationships than any film I have ever seen.
So, Jessica, if you are reading, I hope that give Certified
Copy a chance. Another chance. I think there’s a lot there, more than anyone
can catch in one viewing. Really, it’s
the up and coming thing. Like indoor
plumbing ;)
