For Reel

Director: Abbas Kiarostami

Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy suggested a certain transience in identities–by playing different versions of ourselves, we can actually become different selves. Similarly, Like Someone in Love explores that theme, albeit with somewhat different circumstances. While the games played in Certified Copy were obscure and seemingly mystical, Like Someone in Love involves mistaken identities of the drawing room comedy variety, where small lies become big ones and, before you know it, you need to fulfill a role to satisfy a social obligation. What is unique about this later film, however, is that the deceit involved in the narrative is tied directly to the problematized romance of the film, where there is a discomforting fluidity between jealous violence and love. This is a film where the drama plays out in cars and on phones, creating a palpable sense of alienation and claustrophobia. It is fitting, then, that the only solution to upending these boxed in lives is the sudden violent action that ends the film. Kiarostami’s latest feels like a companion piece to Certified Copy, suggesting flashes of brilliance but also paling in comparison to that masterpiece. Whereas that film seemed to expand and become more interesting as it went on, Like Someone in Love seems to collapse on itself, restricting the narrative and thematic possibilities, ultimately leading to an appropriately mystifying but frustrating conclusion.