Close-Up
About Close-Up
Hossain Sabzian, a print-shop worker, is on a bus with the screenplay of Mohsen Makhmalbaf's The Cyclist when Mrs. Ahankhah says she admires the director. Sabzian says that he is Makhmalbaf. He visits the Ahankhah house in Tehran, talks about casting the sons, and borrows 1,900 tomans. The father grows suspicious, a reporter confirms the imposture, and the police arrest Sabzian. Abbas Kiarostami gets the trial moved up and films it. Sabzian tells the judge he did it out of love for the films. The family agrees to pardon him. After his release he meets the real Makhmalbaf, and the two ride to the Ahankhah house with flowers.
Cast & crew
More about Close-Up
Abbas Kiarostami wrote, directed, and edited. Ali Reza Zarrin produced for Kanoon, the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults. Ali Reza Zarrindast was the cinematographer. Celluloid Dreams handled distribution. The people in the case play themselves, in the courtroom footage and in restaged scenes. Kiarostami had the judge's permission to film the hearing.
Themes
Background
The case was a Tehran fraud prosecution. Kiarostami turned the hearing into the spine of the film and had the same people replay what led up to the arrest.
In film history
Every principal plays himself or herself: Sabzian, the Ahankhah family, the reporter, the judge, and Makhmalbaf.
Making
Kiarostami visited Sabzian in jail, persuaded the court to let cameras in, and asked Makhmalbaf to meet Sabzian in person and go with him to the family's door.
Reviews
Stephen Holden, in The New York Times, wrote about its drab cinema-verite style and the blur between what was filmed as it happened and what was restaged. In the 2022 Sight & Sound critics' poll the film ranked 17th.
Look
Ali Reza Zarrindast photographed it. The trial is the real hearing, shot with the court's permission; the visits to the house are restaged by the people who were there.
Notes
- Sabzian borrowed 1,900 tomans from the family while posing as the director.
- The book on the bus is the screenplay of Makhmalbaf's The Cyclist.
- The Ahankhahs in the film are Monoochehr, Mahrokh, Abolfazl, and Mehrdad Ahankhah. Nayer Mohseni Zonoozi also appears.
- Hossain Sabzian died in Tehran on 29 September 2006, at 52, after a heart attack and a coma.
- The Criterion Collection later issued the film.
- In the 2012 Sight & Sound critics' poll it placed among the top 50 films. In the 2022 critics' poll it placed 17th.
Awards
- Quebec Film Critics Award, Montreal International Festival of New Cinema and Video (1990)
- FIPRESCI Prize, International Istanbul Film Festival (1992)
Scenes
- On the bus, Sabzian tells Mrs. Ahankhah that he is Makhmalbaf and gives her the screenplay.
- In court he explains the impersonation as love of the films, and the family agrees to a pardon.
- Makhmalbaf meets Sabzian outside and they ride to the house with flowers.
Also available
- Criterion Collection
