Ta'm e guilass (1997)

Director:

Abbas Kiarostami

Writer:

Abbas Kiarostami (writer)

Release Date:

30 January 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Middle-aged Mr.Badii is planning to commit suicide and desperately seeks anyone to assist him - he has already dug out the grave in the mountains...

Plot Keywords:

Long Take | Jeep | Hole | Tehran Iran | Suicide Attempt

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Homayoun Ershadi	...	Mr. Badii
Abdolrahman Bagheri	...	Mr. Bagheri
Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari	...	Soldier
Safar Ali Moradi	...	The soldier
Mir Hossein Noori	...	The seminarian
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ahmad Ansari

Directed by
Abbas Kiarostami

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Abbas Kiarostami		writer

Produced by
Abbas Kiarostami	....	producer

Cinematography by
Homayun Payvar

Film Editing by
Abbas Kiarostami

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hassan Yektapanah	....	first assistant director

Sound Department
Mohammad Reza Delpak	....	sound designer
Jahangir Mirshekari	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Alireza Ansarian	....	camera operator

Production Companies

• Abbas Kiarostami Productions
• CiBy 2000

Distributors

• Argentina Video Home (Argentina) (video)
• Artificial Eye
• Atalanta Filmes (Portugal)
• Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Film Corp. (1999) (DVD)
• Cult Filmes (Brazil) (DVD)
• Cult Filmes (Brazil) (VHS)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2007) (Germany) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (all media)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (New Zealand) (all media)
• Mongrel Media (Canada)
• Primer Plano Film Group S.A. (Argentina)
• RCV Film Distribution (Belgium)
• RCV Film Distribution (Luxembourg)
• RCV Film Distribution (Netherlands)
• Vértigo Films (Spain)
• Zeitgeist Films (1998) (USA) (subtitled)

Also Known As:

A Taste of Cherry (USA)
Goût de la cerise, Le (France)
Taste of Cherry (USA) (DVD box title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

France | Iran

Language:

Persian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Brazil:12 | Finland:S | Hungary:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Tehran, Iran

Company:

Abbas Kiarostami Productions

Trivia:

Chosen by "Les Cahiers du cinéma" (France) as one of the 10 best pictures of 1997 (#06).

Quotes:

Mr. Badii: I don't want to give you a gun to kill me. I'm giving you a spade, a spade.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 10 on Ten (2004)

You can understand my pain, but you can not feel my pain

A car slows down in front of some laborers. The driver tries to get their attention. Is the driver gay and trying to pick up a trick?

The driver gives a ride to a soldier from Kurdistan. The soldier is heading back to his post after some R&R. The driver convinces the soldier to take a longer route back to the army camp. This gives the driver time to detail a strange request. The soldier is not interested and flees.

Next the driver picks up an Afghani security guard. The request is repeated.

Eventually the driver seems to find someone who acquiesces to execute the request. After all money will be paid.

I did not like the way Kiarostami chose to close the film. Cinema is often about make-believe and here the final scenes unnecessarily break that promise. A better terminus was obviously available a few shots before. But maybe it was done this way to avoid problems with the religious authorities.