ABSTRACT
The chapter focuses on Abbas Kiarostami and Nuri Bilge Ceylan, two distinguished film-makers from Iran and Turkey, respectively, often criticized for negative bias towards women or for limiting women’s visibility and agency in their films. Comparisons are drawn between Kiarostami’s lesser known pre-revolution film Gozareh/The Report (1977) and his post-revolution Kelosup: Namay-e Nazdik/Close-up (1989), both of which deal with adult subjects and his later work such as Copie Conforme/Certified Copy (2010) and Like Someone in Love (2012) in terms of the presence and absence of women and their representation. These films, in turn, dialogue with Ta’m-e Gilas/Taste of Cherry (1997), Dah/Ten (2002), And Life Goes On (1992), Through the Olive Trees (1994) and Bad Mara Khahad Bord/The Wind Will Carry Us (1999). The last carries a visual and metaphorical intertextuality with Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da/Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011), while some of the disgruntled male protagonists (‘male subjectivity in crisis’) in other Ceylan films that are thoroughly examined echo Kiarostami’s disillusioned males in The Report and Ta’m-e Gilas/Taste of Cherry (1997), in particular. While the woman as desired erotic object is present in the films of both masters, the approach of each film-maker to the presentation of the woman is rather particular for various reasons investigated in the chapter, which includes close readings of individual works from a feminist point of view and also benefits from existing research, theories and personal interviews.
