Kiarostami was a master of meta-cinema, and Through the Olive Trees represents the peak of this technique.
At its heart, the film is a two-person play about class, pride, and illiteracy. Hossein is a charming tornado of logic. He argues that because he is an orphan who works, and she has lost her parents in the earthquake, they are now equals. He argues that because he can read a few words, he is practically an intellectual. He argues that a house is just a house, but a shared life is everything. He never stops talking.
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The staging of a scene that supposedly took place in Kiarostami’s previous film. Through the olive trees- Abbas Kiarostami
Despite the heavy backdrop of natural disaster and social rejection, the film is remarkably light and optimistic. Kiarostami focuses on reconstruction—both of buildings and of lives. The characters are not trapped by their grief. They are busy living, working, flirting, and arguing. Cinematic Style and Visual Motifs
The camera stays static, perched on a hillside, watching from a distance that feels both voyeuristic and godlike. We watch two tiny figures moving through a landscape that has survived centuries of human folly and natural disaster.
Kiarostami did not originally plan a trilogy. Historical tragedy forced his hand. The journey began with Where Is the Friend's House? (1987), a simple story about a boy trying to return his classmate's notebook in the village of Koker. In 1990, a devastating earthquake struck northern Iran, claiming over 30,000 lives. Kiarostami was a master of meta-cinema, and Through
Through the Olive Trees (1994) stands as a crowning achievement in the filmography of Abbas Kiarostami. The film serves as the final installment of the acclaimed Koker Trilogy. This masterpiece blurs the lines between fiction and reality. It offers a profound meditation on cinema, human resilience, and love. The Context of the Koker Trilogy
In a brilliant narrative twist, we discover that Hossein is deeply in love with Tahereh in real life. Before the earthquake, he had proposed to her, but her conservative grandmother rejected him because he was illiterate and owned no house.
In 1994, Iranian master filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami released Through the Olive Trees ( Zir-e Darakhtan-e Zeyton ), a film that would solidify his reputation as one of the most innovative directors in world cinema. Serving as the final installment of his critically acclaimed Koker Trilogy—preceded by Where Is the Friend's House? (1987) and And Life Goes On (1992)—the film is a profound exploration of love, art, social class, and the blurred lines between reality and fiction. He argues that because he is an orphan
One of Kiarostami’s most charming innovations is the portrayal of the film director (played by Mohamad Ali Keshavarz). This is not the auteur-as-tyrant stereotype. Instead, he is a tired, pragmatic mediator. He doesn’t care about Hossein’s romantic obsession; he cares about getting the shot.
Abbas Kiarostami’s Through the Olive Trees is a film that builds a universe out of a single, simple question: What does it mean to say the wrong thing to someone over and over again?
Kiarostami teaches us that the truth is not found in what the characters say, but in what they do when they think no one is looking—or rather, when they know everyone is looking. Through the olive trees, we do not see a resolution. We see a possibility. And in the cinema of Abbas Kiarostami, a possibility is infinitely more powerful than a certainty.