taste of cherry movie review

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, taste of cherry.

Now streaming on:

There was great drama at Cannes last year when the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami was allowed, at the last moment, to leave his country and attend the festival premiere of his new film, "Taste of Cherry." He received a standing ovation as he entered the theater, and another at the end of his film (although this time mixed with boos), and the jury eventually made the film co-winner of the Palme d'Or.

Back at the Hotel Splendid, standing in the lobby, I found myself in lively disagreement with two critics I respect, Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader and Dave Kehr of the New York Daily News. Both believed they had seen a masterpiece. I thought I had seen an emperor without any clothes.

A case can be made for the movie, but it would involve transforming the experience of viewing the film (which is excruciatingly boring) into something more interesting, a fable about life and death. Just as a bad novel can be made into a good movie, so can a boring movie be made into a fascinating movie review.

The story: A man in a Range Rover drives through the wastelands outside Tehran, crisscrossing a barren industrial landscape of construction sites and shanty towns, populated by young men looking for work. The driver picks up a young serviceman, asking him, at length, if he's looking for work: "If you've got money problems, I can help." Is this a homosexual pickup? Kiarostami deliberately allows us to draw that inference for a time, before gradually revealing the true nature of the job.

The man, Mr. Badii ( Homayon Ershadi ) wants to commit suicide. He has dug a hole in the ground. He plans to climb into it and take pills. He wants to pay the other man to come around at 6 a.m. and call down to him. "If I answer, pull me out. If I don't, throw in 20 shovels of earth to bury me." The serviceman runs away. Badhi resumes his employment quest, first asking a seminarian, who turns him down because suicide is forbidden by the Koran, and then an elderly taxidermist. The older man agrees because he needs money to help his son, but argues against suicide. He makes a speech on Mother Earth and her provisions, and asks Badhi, "Can you do without the taste of cherries?" That, is essentially, the story. (I will not reveal if Badhi gets his wish.) Kiarostami tells it in a monotone. Conversations are very long, elusive and enigmatic. Intentions are misunderstood. The car is seen driving for long periods in the wasteland, or parked overlooking desolation, while Badhi smokes a cigarette. Any two characters are rarely seen in the same shot, reportedly because Kiarostami shot the movie himself, first sitting in the driver's seat, then in the passenger's seat.

Defenders of the film, and there are many, speak of Kiarostami's willingness to accept silence, passivity, a slow pace, deliberation, inactivity. Viewers who have short attention spans will grow restless, we learn, but if we allow ourselves to accept Kiarostami's time sense, if we open ourselves to the existential dilemma of the main character, then we will sense the film's greatness.

But will we? I have abundant patience with long, slow films, if they engage me. I fondly recall "Taiga," the eight-hour documentary about the yurt-dwelling nomads of Outer Mongolia. I understand intellectually what Kiarostami is doing. I am not impatiently asking for action or incident. What I do feel, however, is that Kiarostami's style here is an affectation; the subject matter does not make it necessary, and is not benefited by it.

If we're to feel sympathy for Badhi, wouldn't it help to know more about him? To know, in fact, anything at all about him? What purpose does it serve to suggest at first he may be a homosexual? (Not what purpose for the audience--what purpose for Badhi himself? Surely he must be aware his intentions are being misinterpreted.) And why must we see Kiarostami's camera crew--a tiresome distancing strategy to remind us we are seeing a movie? If there is one thing "Taste of Cherry" does not need, it is such a reminder: The film is such a lifeless drone that we experience it only as a movie.

Yes, there is a humanistic feeling underlying the action. Yes, an Iranian director making a film on the forbidden subject of suicide must have courage. Yes, we applaud the stirrings of artistic independence in the strict Islamic republic. But is "Taste of Cherry" a worthwhile viewing experience? I say it is not.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Now playing

Kaiya Shunyata

Brian Tallerico

Peyton Robinson

Evil Does Not Exist

Glenn kenny.

MoviePass, MovieCrash

Clint worthington.

Film Credits

Taste of Cherry (1998)

Rated NR Adult Themes; No Objectionable Material

Homayon Ershadi as Mr. Badii

Abdolrahman Bagheri as Taxidermist

Afshin Khorshid as Soldier

Safar Ali as Bakhtiari Soldier

Mir Hossein Noori as Moradi Seminarian

Produced, Written, Directed and Edited by

• Abbas Kiarostami

Latest blog posts

The Acolyte Sends Star Wars Into a Galaxy Far, Far In the Past

Short Films in Focus: The Year of Staring at Noses

Animation Is Slow Motion: Pablo Berger on Robot Dreams

The Unloved, Part 126: Zardoz

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Taste of Cherry

An Iranian man drives his car in search of someone who will quietly bury him under a cherry tree after he commits suicide. An Iranian man drives his car in search of someone who will quietly bury him under a cherry tree after he commits suicide. An Iranian man drives his car in search of someone who will quietly bury him under a cherry tree after he commits suicide.

• Abbas Kiarostami
• Homayoun Ershadi
• Abdolhosein Bagheri
• Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari
• 131 User reviews
• 97 Critic reviews
• 80 Metascore
• 3 wins & 5 nominations

• Agha-ye. Badiei
• Kargar-e Mozeh
• Pelastik jam kon
• The Soldier (Sarbaz)

• The Seminarian (Talabeh)
• Negahban-e Karkhaneh
• Mard-e Bajeh Telefon
• The Photographer (Dokhtar-e moghabel-e mozeh)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia The film was shot without a proper script, relying on improvisations.
• Goofs In the opening scene, as Mr. Badhi is driving past laborers looking for work, the same middle-aged white haired man, wearing a checkered sweater vest, is seen twice.

Mr. Bagheri : If you look at the four seasons, each season brings fruit. In summer, there's fruit, in autumn, too. Winter brings different fruit and spring, too. No mother can fill her fridge with such a variety of fruit for her children. No mother can do as much for her children as God does for His creatures. You want to refuse all that? You want to give it all up? You want to give up the taste of cherries?

• Connections Featured in Especial Cannes: 50 Anos de Festival (1997)
• Soundtracks St. James Infirmary (uncredited) Often attributed to Irving Mills Performed by Louis Armstrong

User reviews 131

• headtrauma420
• Apr 18, 2004
• How long is Taste of Cherry? Powered by Alexa
• November 26, 1997 (France)
• sourehcinema
• Zeitgeist Film (United States)
• Hương Vị Anh Đào
• Tehran, Iran
• Abbas Kiarostami Productions
• Kanun parvaresh fekri
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 35 minutes

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed.

• Filmmaking/Tech
• Atelier Stark Films

• Film Reviews

Minimalist ‘Taste of Cherry’ a fascinating life and death journey (Film Review)

Taste of Cherry (Ta'm e guilass)

Mr. Badii drives randomly across the Tehran countryside looking for someone — anyone — who would do him one simple job. And pay well it will. A handsome sum he promises.

But, despite the widespread poverty that seemingly consumes every facet of his surroundings he’s unable to convince the strangers he meets to do this one, simple job for him.

And that job?

He needs to someone to bury him the morning after he commits suicide. He’s already dug the hole, now he just needs someone — anyone! — to throw on a few dozen shovelfuls of dirt.

As the keen, middle-aged observer in the lead role of the must-see film Taste of Cherry (1997) , veteran Homayoun Ershadi delivers a performance that reminds me of Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men (2007). You could watch either in a dialog-free scene for ten minutes and walk away with a thousand meanings. Their respective missions are different to be sure, yet there’s a sullen, defeatist undercurrent evident in their mannerisms. One second contemplative, the next even humorous, before becoming possibly dangerous.

Writer-Director Abbas Kiarostami lets the story unfold in a slow, poetic pace. Contemplation is given ample time in the form of long stares, gorgeous and haunting symbolism and curiosities that Mr. Badii encounters as he drives his Range Rover across the dusty landscape.

You can see the influence a film like this — a modern day Iranian classic — could have on, say, Joanthan Glazer’s Under the Skin (2013). In Glazer’s masterpiece, Scarlett Johansson also roams the streets in a vehicle, stalking locals. Destiny awaits both, but we wonder, what’s the point? And, to an extent, that is the point.

Taking a page perhaps out of famed Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s playbook, the search for meaning also means breaking the fourth wall. Taste of Cherry’s coda is exactly as it should be. Some will likely want a more definitive answer, to be left spoon fed the ultimate prize. That, of course, would defeat the purpose of the journey. It’s the grey area that provokes, entices, challenges.

A soldier, religious figures, forces of nature. Is any one or any thing willing to provide the sounding board to Mr. Badii to help him reach his ultimate goal? You’ll have to watch to find out.

It may be difficult to find (try Hulu), but a film like A Taste of Cherry is a gem to be sure (it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1997). I watched it as part of Werner Herzog’s filmmaking masterclass  which opened with the director imploring students to explore foreign film (German Expressionism, Neorealism in Italy, New Wave, etc.). Those unaware of the power and astonishing beauty of film culture in Iran are in for an eye-opening treat. Simple, yet complex at the same time. Everything, it would seem, does return to earth.

• STARK INSIDER
• Product Review Policy and Shipping Address
• Privacy Policy

March 20, 1998 'Taste of Cherry': Simultaneously Epic and Precisely Minuscule Related Articles The New York Times on the Web: Current Film Forum Join a Discussion on Movies By STEPHEN HOLDEN aste of Cherry" was shown as part of last year's New York Film Festival. Here are excerpts from Stephen Holden's review, which appeared in The New York Times on Sept. 27. The film -- in Farsi with English subtitles -- opens Friday in New York City. Credit:Zeitgeist Films Homayoun Ershadi in Abbas Kiarostami's "Taste of Cherry." For most people, the will to live, even in hard times, is more than a determination to survive. It is an unquestioning, ebullient zest for being sensate in the world. This humanistic perception was the rock-bottom insight of the last two films by the great Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, "And Life Goes On ..." and "Through the Olive Trees," which both portrayed Iranian farmers rebuilding their lives after a devastating earthquake. In his exquisite new film, "Taste of Cherry," Kiarostami contrasts the teeming vitality of Iranian working life with the suicidal inclination of a brooding, affluent middle-aged man identified only as Badii (Homayoun Ershadi). Through most of the film, this character, whom Ershadi imbues with a quiet, smoldering bitterness, drives around the parched hills outside of Teheran in a dusty white Range Rover accosting strangers, interviewing them and asking them to assist him in a suicidal ritual. For a fee of what a soldier would make in six months, he asks one man after another to accompany him to a predetermined grave site on the side of a hill and then to return the next day to bury his dead body. If this grim scenario suggests one of Ingmar Bergman's bleaker cinematic meditations, "Taste of Cherry" is a long way from being a tormented probing into the soul's dark night. Badii's anguish is never explained, and he appears physically healthy and materially comfortable. He has just lost some instinctive knack. Until he meets a wizened old taxidermist who tells him the story of his own failed suicide attempt decades earlier, Badii finds no takers for his scheme, despite the reward. His first prospective client is an impoverished young soldier who flees the Range Rover in terror. The second is an Afghan refugee who works as a security guard in a lonely desert outpost. The third, another Afghani, is an articulate Islamic seminarian (Mir Hossein Noori) who lectures Badii calmly on the Muslim strictures against suicide. Kiarastomi, like no other filmmaker, has a vision of human scale that is simultaneously epic and precisely minuscule. While each of the men Badii approaches is a vivid, autonomous individual with a rich personal history and innate sense of dignity, each is also seen as part of the human anthill. The camera is continually drawing back for long shots of soldiers marching in formation over the harsh landscape and of workers moving enormous piles of red dirt and rock with heavy equipment. You feel the pulse and rhythms of earthly life on a grand scale. The breadth and fullness of this calm, orderly vision of people going about their business in a world that looks abundant, even beautiful, despite its aridity, is idyllic, if austere. But it isn't until Badii meets the taxidermist that the film finds a lyrical voice to match its powerful visual imagery. His gorgeous, rough-hewn soliloquy about regaining his zest for life after trying to hang himself from a mulberry tree is a simple, eloquent parable of the senses opening to the refreshment of life's simple pleasures.

Letterboxd — Your life in film

Forgotten username or password ?

• Start a new list…
• Add all films to a list…
• Add all films to watchlist

Add to your films…

Press Tab to complete, Enter to create

A moderator has locked this field.

Add to lists

Where to watch

Taste of cherry.

Directed by Abbas Kiarostami

Searching for the Reason to Live

A middle-aged Tehranian man, Mr. Badii is intent on killing himself and seeks someone to bury him after his demise. Driving around the city, the seemingly well-to-do Badii meets with numerous people, including a Muslim student, asking them to take on the job, but initially he has little luck. Eventually, Badii finds a man who is up for the task because he needs the money, but his new associate soon tries to talk him out of committing suicide.

Homayoun Ershadi Abdolrahman Bagheri Safar Ali Moradi Mir Hossein Noori Elham Imani Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari Ahmad Ansari

Director Director

Abbas Kiarostami

Producer Producer

Writer writer, editor editor, cinematography cinematography.

Homayun Payvar

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Hassan Yektapanah Bahman Kiarostami

Additional Photography Add. Photography

Farshad Bashirzadeh

Sound Sound

Mohammad Reza Delpak Jahangir Mirshekari

Kanoon Abbas Kiarostami Productions CiBy 2000

France Iran

Persian (Farsi)

Releases by Date

16 may 1997.

• Theatrical limited

28 Sep 1997

22 jan 1998, 10 jun 2017, 10 oct 1997, 26 nov 1997, 26 dec 1997, 01 jan 1998, 20 mar 1998, 29 oct 1998, 30 apr 1999, 27 oct 2000, 02 jun 2021, 23 mar 2023, 01 jan 2019, 07 mar 2007, 07 jul 2020, 25 feb 2006, releases by country.

• Theatrical limited Projekt 100
• Theatrical S
• Premiere Cannes Film Festival
• Theatrical U
• Physical U DVD
• Digital VOD
• Physical U Blu-Ray
• Theatrical U Re-Release

Netherlands

• Theatrical 6
• TV 6 Nederland 3

South Korea

• Theatrical 12

99 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★★ 6

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

That shot of Mr. Badii's shadow enveloped by the infinite golden-brown hue of the falling earth? Yeah, pure genius.

The true definition of a suspenseful film, but with a stronger emotional payoff than your typical keep-you-guessing movie.

Deserving of its Palme.

Review by Edgar Cochran ✝️ ★★★★★ 17

Remember that Kiarostami is a humanist. He is concerned more with the human condition than with the motives of the characters, although he sometimes puts a lot of emphasis on the latter as well. Having said this, if any person has been put to the extreme of deciding to commit suicide, that situation is so tragically empathetic that the motives shouldn't matter. Kiarostami knew this: What would be the difference between a breakup, the assassination of somebody, the loss of a relative, the loss of a job or perhaps another extremely personal and unimaginable tragic event in the person's life? Why should it make a difference, given that the man is determined to take away his own life already? And…

Review by CinemaShadow ★★★★★ 3

A film laden with grand ideas and themes - with a vision to match. Yet it's never self-serving; it's self-conscious enough to be humbled by its own perspective in the presence of both the existential and the spiritual. A rare film that recognizes not only the potential but also the limitations of cinema. No film about death has ever felt more alive.

Review by Logan Kenny ★★★★★ 10

we are not alone. time takes us through a journey of pain and regret and moments where it feels like nothing can bring us salvation. and yet, we can look at the sunrise, remember the times where the wind blew through our loved ones’ hair, the way ocean water feels against our skin, how our favourite foods taste. we can remember all the beautiful things that have happened to us, and if we keep going long enough, fighting to survive, to live, we get to make more, things we could never have dreamed of. life is short and long. maybe you’ll feel ready to die when it’s your time, maybe you’ll beg for more life, maybe you won’t make it…

Review by Karst ★★★★★ 5

writing a review Way after i logged it but oh well. kiarostami does something unexplainably beautiful here, felt like i was in a haze watching this.  i’m gonna cut myself some slack for not adding a review until now because i think this is a very tough one to write about. not only from a personal level but it’s also tough to mention any specific theme or visual trick used here without spiraling into the hundreds of things to say about every specific choice. it’s a very beautiful film and i’m breathing a bit deeper today, is there really much else i need to say?

Review by dylan gelula ★★★★★ 6

when people call movies "poems" theyre embarrassing themselves except if they said that about the kiarostami film taste of cherry

Review by Robert Franco ★★★★★

never has the reason to why one shouldn’t kill oneself been put as simply or as beautifully as Bagheri’s question to Badii...

”you want to give up the taste of cherries?”

Review by Sid ★★★★★ 2

Taste of Cherry makes you taste the purest form of cinema. One of the best films which utilize the limitations of filmmaking from a minimalist standpoint. The film is about finding a tiny bit of reason/hope/excuse to live in a life full of suffering that may be as small as a mulberry. All characters here don't have a perfectly ideal life, however, their outlook seems to vary. There's a beautiful shot towards the end where one can either spot a full moon in the sky covered with dark clouds or completely overlook it, it depends on the outlook. It also shows that level of pain and suffering is irrespective of class(which may be debatable), our protagonist is likely the wealthiest…

Review by Neil Bahadur ★★★★★ 4

Perhaps the only film that can successfully venture into the undefinable, like the greatest works of art - this is Kiarostami staring directly into the void. Shot-reverse shot as the ultimate axiom, a series of dichomities between driver and passenger, the reasons to die and the reasons to live, ones relationship to themselves and their relationship to the world, what's been taken from you and what's in front of you, the emotions we cling to to preserve our own sense of self, and our own fundamental need to communicate. One is death, and the other is life.

This is that perfect work of art that one dreams of making, perfect not because of construction but its profundity, where one realizes…

Review by CinemaVoid 🏴‍☠️ ★★★★

Synesthetic cinema: From now on cherries will taste yellow for me.

Review by SilentDawn ★★★★½

Truth as fiction, make-believe as reality.

Review by Lara Pop ★★★★★ 56

#Kiarostami

'I've decided to free myself from this life. How come? It wouldn't help you to know... and I can't talk about it. And you wouldn't understand. It's not because you don't understand but because you can't feel what I feel. You can sympathize, understand, show compassion. But feel my pain? No.'

Taste of Cherry is the road movie where the car moves but the soul remains at a standstill.

Abbas Kiarostami’s harrowing meditation on a man determined to commit suicide is the definition of simplicity put to the greatest use. The concept is simple enough – the man roams around in his car, trying to find someone who is willing to help bury his body after the deed –…

Similar Films

Mentioned by

Select your preferred poster

Upgrade to remove ads.

Letterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps. Please consider upgrading to a Pro account —for less than a couple bucks a month, you’ll get cool additional features like all-time and annual stats pages ( example ), the ability to select (and filter by) your favorite streaming services, and no ads!

Taste of Cherry

• DVD edition reviewed by Chris Galloway
• March 25 2011

See more details, packaging, or compare

Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, Iranian auteur Abbas Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry is an emotionally complex meditation on life and death. Middle-aged Mr. Badii (Homayoun Ershadi) drives through the hilly outskirts of Tehran—searching for someone to rescue or bury him. Criterion is proud to present the DVD premiere of Taste of Cherry in a beautiful widescreen transfer.

Picture 6/10

Extras 3/10

You Might Like

Taste of Cherry (Blu-ray)

The Koker Trilogy (Blu-ray)

Man Push Cart (Blu-ray)

• Campus voice
• Deliberation
• Arts & Culture
• Religion & Spirituality
• Science & Technology

• Film Review

Film Review: ‘Taste Of Cherry’ Engulfs you into the Absurdity of Suicide

The plotline intricately examines the plight and precarity of life without portraying any backdrop of natural calamity. As a matter of fact, the calamity in 'Taste of Cherry' is rather private and subjective. We are never told what it is. Perhaps it is the ambiguity of life itself.

Director: Abbas Kiarostami

Cast: Homayon Ershadi, AbdolRahman Bagheri, Safar Ali Mouradi, Hossein Nooori, Ahmad Ansari, Afshin Khorshed Bhakhtiari

What is the prime purpose of life and why must one hold on to it till the very end? This question often pops up in our headspace whenever life seems to be falling apart and we get struck by a sudden wave of uncertainty and stifling sadness at disparate phases of life. Not to mention, some people find it too difficult to overcome this sense of inexplicable sorrow and consider suicide as the sole solution to put an end to their unabating misery. This anguish of reluctance to ‘live life’ coupled with hopelessness is very well portrayed in the movie Taste of Cherry

Directed by Abbas Kiarostami in 1997, Taste of Cherry is the first well-deserved Iranian movie to bag the title of Palme d’Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, which it shared with The Eel by Shohei Imamura. It is a slow paced, dialogue – driven film depicting the life of a crestfallen character, Mr. Badii, who was around 50. He is a cryptic and ambiguous man who is scouting for someone who could bury his body after he commits suicide. Driving in a Range Rover around the outskirts of Tehran, populated by young men who are desperately hunting for work whom he asks for assistance from people to bury him.

In the entire span of the movie, he ends up picking 3 people in his car. Each person represents a disparate stage of life and holds a different school of thought around the solemn subject of suicide which is strongly condemned by the religion of Islam. The conversations that unfold in the car reveals the religious worldview on commiting suicide. Each character experiences discomfiture or a feeling of being intimidated as Badii tries to coerce them all with money.

Ironically, Mr Badi believes that money is a mighty medium that could mitigate their gony as he could sense that they are all in dire need of economic support. Hence, he attempts to aid them by proffering money and asks them to return him this favour by burying his body. The Range Rover is a metaphor for materialistic world which keeps on moving, no matter how many people die and succumb to their suffering.

Kiarostami’s audacity to frame the storyline around suicide and that too in a country like Iran during a period of heavy censorship earned him global fame. The movie delineates the invaluable aspect of life through a rhetorical inversion. Kiarostami has always used cinema as a means to replicate the repugnant and obnoxious realities of life and ‘Taste of Cherry’ is no exception.

Moreover, the plot has efficaciously highlighted the inner darkness around death. The movie mirrors the bittersweet essence of life and death. Every conversation carried out in the car revolves around life, death, suicide and the sorrowful situation Mr. Badi is going through. He is internally grappling with his emotions which in turn is smothering his soul.

The plotline intricately examines the plight and precarity of life without portraying any backdrop of natural calamity. As a matter of fact, the calamity in ‘Taste of Cherry’ is rather private and subjective. We are never told what it is. Perhaps it is the ambiguity of life itself. The movie has also shed light on the absurdity of war that divests people of mental peace, money, materialistic property and the generic idea of leading a normal peaceful life. Mr. Badii is cognizant of the fact that the crucial problem of destitution could act as a catalyst in aiding him to end his life.

Kiarostami’s technical style of presenting a narrative appears so raw that is potent enough to capture the attention of the audience with its climax. Same goes for ‘ Taste of cherry’ wherein, for the first ‘not so eye-pleasing’ 15 mins, one cannot readily decode what the main character is up to. However, the plot gradually unravels in such a way that it leaves the audience dumbfounded and jolted by emotions. The movie commences on a cryptic note and later on develops into an excruciating ending. The simplistic plot is successful in surpassing the mediocre predictable endings of other movies.

Through this movie, Kiarostami garnered worldwide attention and was critically acclaimed for his cinematography prowess. The movie’s focal point is to put forward a correspondence between Mr. Badi’s car and his body. Simply put, the car is a metaphor for life. He is very selective in choosing people and permitting them inside his car. This is to say that his car is his safe space and he doesn’t want anyone to invade it. When the first passenger sits in his car, the audience will certainly feel as uneasy as the first character. At that moment, it appears as if Mr Badii is a homosexual who is trying to molest him. Later on, the true nature of the job gets unveiled which depicts that he is not trying to scathe others but himself. The second passenger is a seminarian who also refuses.

The super slow pace in the beginning can easily dwindle the attention span of the audience which implicitly represents the mindset of the main character. The third passenger , who agrees to carry out the task, reminds Mr. Badii of the beauty of nature and the trivial things purveyed by Mother Earth that must be relished by humans rather than just stressing on the trials and tribulations of life. He opines that to be alive per say is a blessing and every moment of it must be cherished by mankind. To put it more plainly, he was sincerely trying to talk Mr. Badii out of committing suicide by highlighting the cons of committing suicide and the pleasurable pros of being alive.

This scene is a sweet reminder of why one must never give up on life because it has so much to offer and no suffering is as great as the solace and serenity offered by nature and life. Towards the end of the movie, the angle of the camera changes and Mr. Badi is silently listening to what the third passenger was saying without responding. The initial half of the movie is not as engaging as it was anticipated to be.

Having said that, the ending is full of suspense and open to various interpretations. The climax of the movie enhances the experience of the audience by evoking their empathising skills.

Another imperative aspect accentuated by Kiarostami is the sense of disconnection of a soul from a body. Mr. Badii is very much subsumed in contemplating the consequences of suicide on his body. The reverence he holds for his body is conspicuous throughout the movie. As a matter of fact, he is disconnected with his body and his mind wants to discard the body along with the suffering in the world.

However, he didn’t want his body to simply rot. Apparently, he is reluctant to leave his body without getting the assurance of its proper burial because he thought that his body deserves respect. It is a tacit depiction of veneration for a human body. The dialogue delivery by each character comes out very naturally. It doesn’t feel as if the director behind the lens is trying to push the narrative on his audience. The sound effects trigger sensory perception by multiple sounds – giggling children playing in a valley, the drone of distant construction vehicles, the use of car horns, or strange animal squeals hidden behind a hill is suggestive of worlds beyond the frame.

Kiarostami manages to contrive a deeply distraught yet subtle inspirational human figure. One can easily imagine that he’s had war traumas, but that’s not explicitly stated by him in the movie. He suffers alone, because, as he points out, one can comprehend somebody else’s pain, but not feel it. The key ingredient of Kiarostami’s films is unadulterated depiction of reality. It requires the spectators to permit the plot to enter their immune system prior to sensing the effects of it on their soul. Towards the end of Taste of Cherry, the emotionally impactful ambience hits the audience with a wave of poignance. The culmination is so relevant and poetic to the point of rupturing the heart of the viewers. They never learn why Mr. Badii wants to die, which allows the audience to project all types of things onto both the character and the actor who plays him.

The movie is an excellent exploration of dejection and the insurmountable pain that engulf Mr Badi which impels us to think about those moments wherein we ourselves reach the saturation point and feel most vulnerable. This abyss of anguish appears like a dead end to Mr. Badii, from where he is no longer willing to salvage himself but just wants to set his soul free in order to get this unbearable burden lifted off his chest.

The director has very well portrayed the ineffable mystery of life and the intangible weight of carrying a despondent heart through one specific scene which involves the shadow of a construction worker piling sand in a pit . In its penultimate scene, when Mr. Badi is lying completely still, apparently heading into an arena of darkness both literal and figurative, the audience is left uncanningly alone with themselves and their deepest tumultuous feelings about life. The stillness of the black screen, after he commits suicide at the end is a bit haunting because of the eerie silence that follows after death. Not to mention, this movie is all about exploring the essence of life and at the same divulging the absence of it. It wants us to savour, sense and taste life from every aspect. Portraying a priceless meaning, Kiarostami has done an impeccable job by simply projecting abstract suffering which can’t be recorded visually.

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

Chamkila: Art, Identity, Fame and Tragedy

Kho Gaye Hum Kaha:  A Wake-up Call for a Generation High on Social Media

Mysteries Unveiled: Decoding the Intricate Plot and Psychological Ridicules of ‘Asur’ : A Web Series Review

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Subscribe me to your mailing list

• Campus Journos
• Old Issues – Flipping Book

TASTE OF CHERRY

"too painful".

What You Need To Know:

(Pa, FR, D, M) Pagan worldview with false religious elements of Islam with some pro-life elements; no obscenities or profanities; discussion of suicide; no sex; no nudity; and, drug abuse.

More Detail:

TASTE OF CHERRY, a depressing, slow-paced Iranian film (with English subtitles), depicts the determination of a middle-aged man, Mr. Badii (Homayon Ershadi), to end his life and to find someone to help him in this endeavor. Viewers never learn why Mr. Badii wants to commit suicide. Mr. Badii explains that he doesn’t feel that anyone can experience or understand the depth of his pain, so he refuses to talk about it. Driving around the dirt hills surrounding the city of Tehran, Mr. Badii offers three different men a handsome sum of money to help him with his plan. He explains to each one of them, by showing them a hole beside a road, that he would like them to come back at dawn and yell his name into the hole three times. If he does not answer, they are to throw twenty shovels of dirt into the hole, presumably to bury his dead body.

The first man, a soldier, who had been drafted into the Iranian army two months beforehand, perceives Mr. Badii to be a madman and jumps out of the car at the first chance. The second, a seminarian, tells Mr. Badii that God dislikes anyone’s taking his own life. Referring to the Koran, he informs Mr. Badii that helping him to commit suicide would go against his beliefs. Finally, Mr. Badii comes across Mr. Bagheri, a taxidermist who works at the Museum of Natural History and who has a sick child.

Mr. Bagheri tells Mr. Badhii that he also wanted to commit suicide at one time. However, when he heard and saw the children playing and tasted the sweetness of the mulberries that grew in a tree, he realized that life is valuable and that he must change his outlook. He tries to get Mr. Badii to talk about his problems but to no avail. He asks Mr. Badii, “Do you want to forget the taste of cherries?” Failing to dissuade him from suicide, Mr. Bagheri agrees to carry out his part of Mr. Badii’s plan because he could use the money to take care of his sick child.

Although TASTE OF CHERRY touches on the very sensitive issue of suicide, it never explores it in depth. Because Mr. Badii does not reveal his motivation for suicide, it is difficult for the audience to connect with him. No one knows how he thinks or how he feels (except that he is in a lot of pain). Why does he despair of living? Why does he want to take his own life? Viewers never learn anything about his life; whether he is married, has children, or works. With very limited dialogue, the film leaves many unanswered questions. Does Mr. Badii unconsciously hope that his accomplice might talk him out of his suicide when he comes to pour dirt into the hole? Viewers wonders whether dying in a hole is supposed to reflect some aspect of Iranian culture.

TASTE OF CHERRY ends abruptly, with no final resolution. The film concludes with a scene of Homayon Ershadi being photographed climbing into the hole, and then climbing out, as camera assistants watch on the film set. Even Iranian viewers at a recent screening stated that they did not understand the ending. Yet, TASTE OF CHERRY does uphold the value of life in that it depicts the horrified reactions of the three men to Mr. Badii’s plan to commit suicide. In spite of the difficulties that all three have in their lives, they all appreciate life’s simple pleasures. They all also seem to find meaning in carrying out the responsibilities to which they have been assigned.

In fact, the primary message of TASTE OF CHERRY seems to lie in rejecting suicide in favor of carrying out the responsibilities to which one has been assigned in life. Although Mr. Bagheri’s advice has the most credibility, since he at one time also considered suicide, his approach to Mr. Badii is counter-therapeutic. He minimizes Mr. Badii’s pain by asking why should he kill himself over one little problem. He sees Mr. Badii’s solution as to simply change his outlook, but research has shown that it is important for people who are suicidal to feel understood and to have their feelings validated. The oversimplification of this serious problem is disturbing.

Because of its theme of suicide, TASTE OF CHERRY is appropriate only for mature audiences. It is disappointing that Mr. Badii’s motives for suicide and his hopelessness about living were not more deeply explored. The movie leaves viewers feeling flat. The audience is left with not much to contemplate. When it is over, viewers walk away feeling confused and depressed, with a lot of unanswered questions.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Link to Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
• Young Woman and the Sea Link to Young Woman and the Sea
• Jim Henson Idea Man Link to Jim Henson Idea Man

New TV Tonight

• Ren Faire: Season 1
• Star Wars: The Acolyte: Season 1
• Clipped: Season 1
• Queenie: Season 1
• Sweet Tooth: Season 3
• Mayor of Kingstown: Season 3
• Criminal Minds: Season 17
• Becoming Karl Lagerfeld: Season 1
• Power Book II: Ghost: Season 4
• Erased: WW2's Heroes of Color: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

• Eric: Season 1
• Evil: Season 4
• Dark Matter: Season 1
• Tires: Season 1
• Outer Range: Season 2
• Fallout: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• Outer Range: Season 2 Link to Outer Range: Season 2
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

All Harry Potter (and Fantastic Beasts ) Movies Ranked

All George Miller Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Pride Month Programming Calendar 2024: TV and Streaming Shows and Movies Celebrating LGBTQ+ Voices

Movie Re-Release Calendar 2024: Your Guide to Movies Back In Theaters

• Trending on RT
• Vote: 1999 Movie Showdown
• 100 Best Movies on Netflix
• Star Wars: The Acolyte
• Superman: Everything We Know

Taste of Cherry Reviews

It’s minimalist, it’s self-reflexive...[audiences] may be very receptive to Kiatrosami’s philosophical approach to living and dying.

Full Review | Mar 7, 2023

“Taste of Cherry” doesn’t argue for or against the concept of suicide, but it does ask for a compassionate view on the desire to do so.

Full Review | Sep 28, 2022

Attains a kind of haunting mysticism, profoundly shifting the audience's perception of reality. It's Kiarostami's finest work, and one of the best films of the 1990s.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Nov 9, 2020

Taste of Cherry is perhaps Kiarostami's most universal projection of grace and suffering, reflecting a world which offers as much beauty as it does woe.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 3, 2020

An assured and studied meditation on the question of whether life is worth living.

Full Review | Aug 24, 2020

Neither masterpiece nor misfire.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 16, 2020

It is both drama and allegory, and while it has been met with ardent praise from critics over the years, it doesn't quite work for me either way.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 11, 2020

Its esoteric approach will undoubtedly keep a majority of viewers at arm's length, but, those who enjoy a light-on-details examination of life and death may just find something rich within this award-winning Iranian narrative.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 17, 2020

[An] unexpected break in the narrative deepens the film's ambiguous ending and makes it more powerful.

Full Review | Nov 29, 2018

Kiarostami executes a filmic social study that digs deep into the public and private psyche of Iran's male populace via the age-old query that Shakespeare elegantly distilled into, "to be or not to be; that is the question."

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jun 18, 2016

Taste of Cherry confirmed Kiarostami as the most acclaimed director of Iran's rich film culture...

Full Review | Dec 6, 2009

Kiarostami's insistence on putting a frame around his vision keeps the freedom of interpretation--and the responsibility for it--in the hands of the viewer.

Full Review | Sep 1, 2009

Taste of Cherry might be Kiarostami's most difficult film.

Full Review | Mar 6, 2007

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 17, 2005

An enduring meditation on living life. A great film.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 8, 2004

The #1 U.S. release of 1998: 'A sublime and patient film...[Kiarostami] handles his profound material flawlessly.'

Full Review | Original Score: A | Jan 10, 2003

That Kiarostami keeps us guessing and caring to the very end as to how Mr. Badii will answer these questions, and that he accomplishes this concern on our parts with a startling spareness, is nothing less than Divine.

Full Review | Jan 7, 2003

Que seja aberto a interpretaes um dos pontos positivos de 'Gosto de Cereja'. Que se feche de maneira to terrvel seu - talvez - nico ponto negativo.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 31, 2002

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 12, 2002

Simplicity often leads to profundity, but A Taste of Cherry (especially the ending) represents lazy cinema that has been overrated by too many.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Feb 3, 2002