A Taste of Cherry ( Ta'am e-guilass)
Directed by Abbas Kiarostami
Released 1997
his multi-prize winning film by Abbas Kiarostami, the critically acclaimed Iranian filmmaker, is a gripping, philosophic reflection of the significance of life and death and human compassion.
Abbas Kiarostami has been heralded as one of the world's greatest living filmmakers and the most internationally celebrated Iranian cultural figure.
During the 1970's, he began to write poetry and take landscape photographs around Iran and then moved to film in the 80s
 His prolific work as a filmmaker has produced films such as the multi-award winning Where Is The Friend's House (at the end of the 80s), Close Up (Iran 1990), Life Goes
On (Iran 1991) and Through The Olive Trees (Iran-France 1994)
A Taste of Cherry, begins with a hanging camera closely focused on an emotionless middle-aged man, Mr.
Badii (Homayoun Ershadi), who drives slowly through the barren and dusty streets of an unknown Iranian city. He looks around inquisitively as a host
of labourers crowd around his car looking for work. He does not seem to be interested in that but suddenly something changes. He begins to question
some of these men; 'How much do you earn, do you need money, would you do a job for me,' yet he refuses to explain the nature of the job.
Tension builds up as passers-by walk away suspiciously.
His growing feeling of desolation is exasperated by monochrome scenery of dockyards and quays.
The real reasons of Mr Badii's search are still hidden to the viewer. However, it is clear that he is determined to find something.
Along the way, he offers a lift to a young Afghani (Safar Ali Moradi), serving the military in Iran. As they begin to bond through small talks, uneasiness
grips the naive soldier. It dawns on him that Mr Badii is driving him away from the city towards the top of the hill at which point he stops at a basin he dug himself, overshadowed by a tree.
At this point he reveals his plan; he wants to commit a suicide. The young Afghani's job would be to make sure that he is not buried alive. His duty
would be to come to the suicide spot in the morning and to call him twice "like this" he says "Mr Badii, Mr Badii" and " if I don't reply" he adds, then the
soldier will have to throw twenty spades full of earth into the hole and bury him. The soldier runs away horrified.
The camera keeps shooting a wandering Mr Badii through out sandy  coloured images of canvas. Sand is everywhere as to remind us of his deadly plan
and desire to be buried. After another attempt – he had met a seminarian who refused to collaborate for dogmatic reasons - Mr Badii gives a run to an old man (Abdol Hossain
Bagheri) . He works as a taxidermist at the natural science museum, providing quails to be studied by students in taxidermy experiments.
It is at this point that the director shows us one of the most emotional parts of the film: the old man tells Badii that once he wanted to commit a suicide
too. There was nothing that he felt could have stopped him. One morning the old man walked away from his wife and family with the intention of
putting end to his life. He then found himself in a mulberry orchard and as he tasted a cherry everything changed as the taste of the cherry made him realise that life was still worth living.
But he is now willing to accept Mr. Badii's offer as he needs the money to treat his sick young son, though he strongly encourages him to rethink his
suicide plan, whatever the reason that pushes him to die. He will be there in the morning as promised although the Kurdish man deeply wishes that at
the second call, Mr Badii would answer finally embracing life with all its grittiness, mischievous things but also with the joy that comes from the taste of cherries.
The camera follows Badii him early in the morning on his journey to his burial upon the hill. A close shot of Mr Badii as he lowers himself into the burial hole covered by darkness.
What follows are images of the real actor who comes out of the hole, and lights up a cigarette as if to relieve the tension accumulated by interpreting
Badii. Then a shot of the director himself calling the extras and the troupe of the film to take a rest.
Kiarostami deliberately offers us a vision of the film within the film to show that what is real is not the story but the interior battle of Badii, suggesting a
deeper reflection on the ideological message of the film rather than on the story. Mr Badii embodies emblematic open questions for which both
Western and Islamic society haven't yet provided an answer. Is it fair or unethical ending your own life when everything becomes unbearable? Is it
worth to give up the taste of a cherry to end grief and misery
Suicide is not the only subject Kiarostam's film invites us to reflect on. Another topic is at the heart of the narrative. The encounter of Mr Badii with
the three men is poignant and metaphoric too; compassion amid human beings. The three men represent human compassion in different grades,
shadings and stages: the youth (the soldier), with his inexperience and incapacity to deal with emotions; the adult (the seminarian), when we are
often too concerned with social conventions and conform to rules rather than find the truth; and finally old age (the taxidermist), when we have
enough wisdom to really connect, empathise and understand ours and other people's pain.
The National Theatre Festival and Victoria Albert Museum of London have recently dedicated a retrospective on Abbas Kiarostami, showing his most
poignant films and an installation of photographs of Iranian landscapes.
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