Through The Olive Trees- Abbas Kiarostami Verified Jun 2026

The shot lasts eleven minutes. For eleven minutes, we watch a one-sided conversation. Hossein lectures, pleads, cajoles, and reasons. He talks about his house, his reading habits, the practicalities of marriage. He explains why he is worthy of her. Tahereh says nothing. She stares straight ahead. She does not run, she does not turn around. She simply walks.

: A meta-narrative that takes place "behind the scenes" of a single scene from And Life Goes On 2. Plot Summary Through the olive trees- Abbas Kiarostami

The film operates as a Russian nesting doll of reality: it is a fictional story about the making of a real film ( And Life Goes On ), which itself was about a real disaster (the 1990 Iranian earthquake). In this layer, we follow Hossein, a poor, illiterate bricklayer who is cast as an actor. He plays a man who is marrying a woman named Tahereh. In reality, Tahereh is played by an actress who barely acknowledges Hossein’s existence. He is in love with her; she is distant, perhaps bound by tradition, perhaps simply uninterested. The shot lasts eleven minutes