The first Iranian film to win the Palme d’Or, this austere, emotionally complex drama by the great Abbas Kiarostami (Close-up) follows the middle-aged Mr. Badii (The Kite Runner’sHomayoun Ershadi) as he drives around the hilly outskirts of Tehran looking for someone who will agree to dispose of his body after he commits suicide, a taboo under Islam. Extended conversations with three passengers (a soldier, a seminarian, and a taxidermist) elicit different views of mortality and individual choice. Operating at once as a closely observed, realistic story and a fable populated by archetypal figures, Taste of Cherry challenges the viewer to consider what often goes unexamined in everyday life.
Extras
New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Project, Abbas Kiarostami’s 39-minute 1997 sketch film for Taste of Cherry, made with the director’s son Bahman Kiarostami
New interview with Iranian film scholar Hamid Naficy
Rare 1997 interview with Abbas Kiarostami, conducted by Iranian film scholar Jamsheed Akrami
