Kiarostami's Shirin: Cinema as Portrait and Veil
In a 2010 publication for art press, Ange-Henri Pieraggi examines Abbas Kiarostami's film Shirin (2008), which was released by MK2 Diffusion. The movie intertwines the Persian tale of Shirin and Khosrow with intimate close-ups of women's expressions as they respond to the narrative. Pieraggi posits that these images serve to both individualize and socialize, reflecting aspects of Islamic culture. He highlights the film's dialogic interplay between cinema and painting, emphasizing the contrasting spaces of each medium. Additionally, he discusses how cinema's indexical quality raises questions about the acheiropoietic image. Kiarostami challenges Islamic gender norms by depicting men and women together, with movement solely conveyed through light and shadow, a theme present in his previous works.
Key facts
- Article by Ange-Henri Pieraggi in art press n°365 (March 2010)
- Analyzes Abbas Kiarostami's film Shirin (2008)
- Film distributed by MK2 Diffusion
- Shirin presents a dual system: sound narrative of Shirin and Khosrow legend and close-ups of women's faces
- Pieraggi argues the close-ups function as portraits, not Deleuzian close-ups
- Film establishes dialogic relationship between cinema and painting
- All women in Iranian cinema are veiled, including Juliette Binoche
- Kiarostami subverts Islamic gender segregation by showing men and women together in background
- Only movement in film is moving shadows behind faces
- Pieraggi compares to Kiarostami's earlier films Bread and Alley (1970) and Close-Up (1990)
Entities
Artists
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Ange-Henri Pieraggi
- Juliette Binoche
- Gilles Deleuze
- Tzvetan Todorov
- Marie José Mondzain
- C.S. Peirce
- Plato
Institutions
- art press
- MK2 Diffusion
- Minuit
- Seuil
Locations
- Iran
Sources
- artpress —