Where to watch
Criterion Channel
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A struggling actor navigates a complicated off-screen romance with his co-star from a previous film.
Why watch this film?
Content Editor
A depiction of the off-screen relationship between the actors who play the newlyweds in the film And Life Goes On (1992).
"Through the Olive Trees by Abbas Kiarostami is another gem of Iranian cinema! With his metalinguistic and sensitive perspective, Kiarostami presents us with a plot in which Hossein and Tahere are chosen to play a leading couple in a film. However, the fiction resembles reality: Hossein is in love with his wife and his feelings are not reciprocated, which creates tension on the set. The film closes the Koker trilogy, named after the fact that the works take place in this location in northern Iran and because of connections and perspectives that are also identified in other films, Where is my friend's house? and And life goes on…. With long walks and takes, Through the Olive Trees poetically seals the idea of searching for what makes sense to live, for flowers, loves and colors that resist the tremors of the Koker region."