Cloud: Between Paris and Tehran

A theoretical examination of veiling, shame, and modesty in the films of the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami through the lenses of Islamic philosophy and Lacanian psychoanalysis.

In Cloud: Between Paris and Tehran, Joan Copjec examines the films of the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami. The key to these films, she argues, lies in the image of a fragile yet sheltering tree that appears in several of his films. This simple image depicts a central concept of Islamic philosophy, which is known as the “Cloud” or the “Imaginal World.” It designates the place out of which all the things of this world manifest themselves and “covers,” or veils, that which must remain hidden.

The concept of the Cloud plays a significant role in defining:… Keep Reading