Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami's first feature-length film, Certified Copy, is not so much an ode to marriage, but a tantalising glimpse of how something that acknowledges its falsehood from the get-go can become more real than the original could ever hope to be.

The film begins with a lecture in Tuscany by British author James Miller (William Shimell) on the issues of authenticity surrounding copies of art. Juliette Binoche's character, an unnamed antiques dealer who quickly develops a crush on Miller, makes an early exit from the lecture, but arranges to meet him afterwards.

They embark on a short trip to the town of Lucignano where, after being mistaken as a couple by the owner of a cafe, they gradually assume their assigned roles with dramatic conviction. As the film progresses, the extent to which they act out the elaborate history of their imagined marriage intensifies. It reaches a point where the audience is confused as to whether they are really play acting at all, reflecting the issues of authenticity discussed in Miller's lecture.