Cinematic Style of Abbas Kiarostami - Visual and Audio Techniques

Visual and Audio Techniques

Kiarostami's style is notable for the use of long shots, such as in the closing sequences of Life, and Nothing More... and Through the Olive Trees, where the audience is intentionally distanced physically from the characters to invite reflection on their fate. Taste of Cherry is punctuated throughout by shots of this kind, including distant overhead shots of the suicidal Badii's car moving across the hills, usually while he is in conversation with a passenger. The physical distancing techniques stand in juxtaposition to the dialogue, which always remains in the foreground. Like the coexistence of private and public space, or the frequent framing of landscapes through car windows, this fusion of distance with proximity has been seen as a way of generating suspense in the most mundane of moments.

This relationship between distance and intimacy, between imagery and sound, is also present in the opening sequence of The Wind Will Carry Us. From the outset, Kiarostami formulates a dialectical relationship between image and sound. The camera moves from long shots of the Land Rover winding its way through the mountain paths to extreme close-ups of the film’s protagonist. Concurrently, Kiarostami aurally represents an expanse that extends far beyond what the viewer can see at any moment, even when the camera remains a considerable distance from the subject matter on-screen. Kiarostami establishes numerous spaces beyond the visual field by fragmenting his soundtrack to include other sounds such as birds singing, dogs barking and electronic devices such as cell phones and radios blaring in the distance. By referring to characters the viewer does not see or hear, Kiarostami widens the scope of his films.

Michael J. Anderson has argued that such a thematic application of presence without presence manipulates our perception of nature and space in the geographical framework in which the world is portrayed. Kiarostami's use of sound and imagery conveys a world beyond what is directly visible and/or audible, which Anderson believes emphasises the shrinking of time and space and the interconnectedness of the modern world.

Film critic Ben Zipper believes that Kiarostami’s work as a landscape artist is evident in the composition of distant shots of the dry hills throughout a number of his films. He points out that Kiarostami’s use of rural locations and remote settings is reminiscent of Sohrab Sepehri’s attention to landscape as represented in his poems such as Golestaneh, in which the poet treats the rural environment realistically and imbues it with a poetic aura.