Taste of Cherry

Taste of Cherry was awarded Palme d’Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, and tells the story about Mr Badii, an Iranian, who plans to commit suicide. He has already dug a hole in the ground on a hill outside of Tehran and plans to take an overdose of sleeping pills. His only problem is that he needs someone to help him with the task of covering up the dead body. The film follows Badii driving around in the capital looking for someone to help him with the task, which sets him in contact with three people who think differently about suicide. As the film develops, we as an audience gets more and more unsure about how much Badii really wants to die.

The film is mainly shot in long takes and certain scenes have minimal dialogue. This becomes extra clear near the end of Taste of Cherry as Kiarostami breaks the fourth wall and we as an audience are drawn into the production of the movie itself.

Abbas Kiarostami is one of Iran’s most famous film directors, and passed away earlier this year. Close-Up from 1990, Taste of Cherry and Certified Copy (2010) are some of his most famous films. Kiarostami has a reputation for using child protagonists, and creates highly realistic narratives with a good portion of humour.