Through the Olive Trees - 1994 - Abbas Kiarostami

itle: Through the Olive Trees
AKA:
Year: 1994
Original title: Zire darakhatan zeyton (Persian: زیر درختان زیتون)
Runtime: 1 hour, 38 minutes
Country: France | Iran
Language: Persian
Subtitles: English, Español, Português, Türkçe (SubRip)
Genre: Drama

Director: Abbas Kiarostami

Cast
Mohamad Ali Keshavarz ... Film Director
Farhad Kheradmand ... Farhad
Zarifeh Shiva ... Mrs. Shiva
Hossein Rezai ... Hossein
Tahereh Ladanian ... Tahereh
Hocine Redai ... Hocine
Zahra Nourouzi ... Kouly's Daughter
Nasret Betri ... Achiz
Azim Aziz Nia ... Azim
Astadouli Babani ... Teacher
N. Boursadiki ... Tahra
Kheda Barech Defai ... teacher
Ahmed Ahmed Poor ... Himself (as A. li Ahmed Poor)
Babek Ahmed Poor ... Himself
Mahbanou Darabi



Plot / Synopsis
It is the final part of Kiarostami's Koker trilogy, and the plot revolves around the production of the second episode, Life, and Nothing More..., which itself was a revisitation of the first film, Where Is the Friend's Home?. Like many of Kiarostami's films, it is filmed in a minimalist, naturalistic way, while also being a complex study of the link between art and life, constantly blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality.

Hossein Rezai plays a local stonemason turned actor who, outside the film set, makes a marriage proposal to his leading lady, a student recently orphaned after the earthquake. The family of the girl finds his offer insulting however, as he is poor and illiterate, and the girl decides to evade him because of this. She continues evading him even when they are filming, as she seems to have trouble grasping the difference between her role and real life. The fictional couple takes part in what would be the filming of Life, and Nothing more....

The situation complicates further as Hossein still pursues the affections of the young actress while the film goes on. The director learns about this and tries to advise Hossein about what to do. He then illustrates their story and where the conflict began. The girl manages to finish the scene while Hossein woos her and then departs by walking as Hossein runs to follow her.

In a memorable scene, at a great distance, the girl finally gives an answer to Hossein and we are left with him running through a green field and back into the olive grove. The audience is left to wonder what response was given by the girl.

Awards
6 wins and 2 nominations

Review snip
Quote:
Through the Olive Trees is an exceptionally well-crafted and thoughtful motion picture. There is no melodrama here -- this is straightforward drama without frills or flourishes.
~ James Berardinelli, read rest on Reel Views

External info
• More info on IMDb
• Film article on English Wikipedia

Technical specs
Source: DVD rip off the Internet
Group/Ripper: Unknown
Video Format: H.264/MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding in Matroska (.mkv)
Video Bitrate: Var 620 kbps
Frame Rate: 25 fps
Resolution: 560 × 336
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 (5:3)
Audio Format: Advanced Audio Coding (AAC)
Audio Bitrate: 96 kbps
Sampling rate: 48000 Hz


Languages: Persian
Country: France, Iran
Genre: Drama
All Genres: Drama
Rating: 7.6 -
Votes: 2,015
Plot Outline:
The movie focuses on one of the events in Zendegi Edame Darad (1992), and explores the relationship between the movie director... See full summary »

Year: 1994
Runtime: 103 minutes
Director: Abbas Kiarostami,
Cast:
Mohamad Ali Keshavarz, Farhad Kheradmand, Zarifeh Shiva, Hossein Rezai,