"Taste of Cherry" Rewards Patience

Review: Taste of Cherry (1997)

By Grayson VanDyke

If you are new to the work of Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, then you may want to prepare a cup of coffee for your first viewing. Kiarostami’s style is self-admittedly sleepy and unobtrusive, as famously stated in an interview, “I prefer the films that put their audience to sleep in the theater... Some films have made me doze off in the theater, but the same films have made me stay up at night, wake up thinking about them in the morning, and keep on thinking about them for weeks” (“Abbas Kiarostami discusses his directorial style”). This quote aptly describes his much-acclaimed 1997 film Taste of Cherry. Its moderate 95-minute runtime may feel significantly longer to audiences used to more action in their movies, but the patient are rewarded with a touching film with scenic imagery and empathetic characters.

Mr. Badii, the middle-aged protagonist, drives through Tehran in search of someone who will do a job for him. Eventually giving a ride to a young Kurdish soldier, who grows increasingly uncomfortable after being driven to a remote location for his ominous job. It’s revealed that Mr. Badii’s “job” is for the soldier to bury him after he takes his own life; a job the soldier literally flees from. The second person Mr. Badii picks up is a young Afghan seminarist who refuses the job offer on the belief that suicide is a sin against God. The final passenger is an old taxidermist who accepts the job but implores that Mr. Badii chooses to live instead.

Visually, Taste of Cherry has a yellowish, earthy look to it, with the low sun and hills of Tehran making up most of the scenery. This setting is mostly explored around Mr. Badii’s car, as the camera patiently follows it around the hills. The “earthy” look fits the film given that the story involves being buried and yet also finding joy in nature, as Mr. Badii says himself, “earth gives us all the good things.” Driving the winding roads also works as symbolism for life. The old taxidermist leads Mr. Badii onto a road he’s never taken saying, “it’s longer but better and more beautiful.” It stands to reason a longer life, much like the longer car ride, is also worth it and would be a shame to cut it short.

Being that Taste of Cherry largely consists of characters talking in a car, the weight of the film is heavily anchored in these character interactions. Mr. Badii has responses ready for both the timid young Kurdish soldier and the well-meaning seminarist, telling the soldier that using a spade is easier than a gun and the seminarist that surely God wouldn’t want a person to continue living unhappily. However, he has no response to the old taxidermist who tells him that he once tried to take his own life only to be saved by something as simple as a mulberry. The wisdom and experience of the elderly man is what finally rattles Mr. Badii’s commitments to his plan. Some may find the film’s ambiguous ending frustrating, but the journey is worth it. Just as the taxidermist speaks to Mr. Badii so too does he speak to the audience. Kiarostami wisely resists divulging the reasons why Mr. Badii wants to take his life and instead allows viewers to see their own hardships and regrets reflected in him, but the remedy of the beauty of nature to change one’s perspective is equally relatable. Perhaps that’s what makes Taste of Cherry so universal; no matter where you live there is pain but there is also beauty.