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(Panahi would become aregime-challengingcinematic titanhimself.)
(The film is co-written by Farsi speakers Pirouz Nemati and Ila Firouzabadi.)
Matthews end may not be that explicitly planned, but a death of sorts does await him.
With that encounter,Universal Languagetransitions into its final homage: to Kiarostamis 1990 masterpiece,Close-Up.
She thinks theyre photos of Massoud, whom she knows as Matthew.
Massoud inhabits two lives, while Matthew doesnt realize hes been erased from his own.
As with Matthews mothers mirrors, again Rankin uses mimicked framing to replace his character.
No one but Matthew-as-Massoud clocks anything wrong here.
It calls to mind how inClose-Up, Sabzian mimicked Makhmalbaf for a while without anyone catching on.
ButUniversal Languagedoesnt treat Massoud and Matthews body swap as an action to be punished, like Sabzian initially was.
Instead, it uses their interchange to wonder at what exactly makes us who we are.
Perhaps he cared more about his career than himself.
Perhaps he got caught up in bureaucracy.
Perhaps it was easier to avoid home after his fathers death.
Through a resurrection of Kiarostamis openheartedness as cinematic practice,Universal Languagecrafts its own identity.
