A minimalistic and thoroughly miserable, painfully slow 90 minutes film about miserable bourgeois Istanbulites in various climates. Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan reminds me of Bergman and Ozu but lacks the formers comic touch with kept his best films from descending into tedium and the latter heart.
The film follows Isa (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) and Bahar (Ebru Ceylan)- the move of casting himself and his wife in a film about a couple smacks a little of self indulgence, lets hope there marriage isn't this bad!. Board Bahar leaves her husband Isa who find solace in ex girlfriend Serap (Nazan Kirilmis-The most annoying lengthy laughs in cinema history) culminating in a very disturbing sex scene where Isa bullies Serep into having sex in a detached continuous take. Isa eventually tracks down Bahar and attempts a reconciliation.
This is a film that insists on taking it's time and was for me a chore to watch scenes seem to drag on for ever the director coldly holding the frame on stationary characters, presumable so we can feel there inner turmoil, the worst offender being a scene where he holds the camera on Bahar for about six minutes so she can produce a few tear drops and allow them to run down her face. You got to admire that kind of bravery in a director to go against the Hollywood snappy dialogue and short scenes.Also admirable was the spreading throughout the film of subtle focuses on tiny details, like the sound of a bee, or snow flakes. However the film just isn't very interesting, the characters are undeveloped the script vague the ending unsatisfying, I can appreciate Ceylan intentions and his integrity but this film does very little for me.
The film follows Isa (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) and Bahar (Ebru Ceylan)- the move of casting himself and his wife in a film about a couple smacks a little of self indulgence, lets hope there marriage isn't this bad!. Board Bahar leaves her husband Isa who find solace in ex girlfriend Serap (Nazan Kirilmis-The most annoying lengthy laughs in cinema history) culminating in a very disturbing sex scene where Isa bullies Serep into having sex in a detached continuous take. Isa eventually tracks down Bahar and attempts a reconciliation.
This is a film that insists on taking it's time and was for me a chore to watch scenes seem to drag on for ever the director coldly holding the frame on stationary characters, presumable so we can feel there inner turmoil, the worst offender being a scene where he holds the camera on Bahar for about six minutes so she can produce a few tear drops and allow them to run down her face. You got to admire that kind of bravery in a director to go against the Hollywood snappy dialogue and short scenes.Also admirable was the spreading throughout the film of subtle focuses on tiny details, like the sound of a bee, or snow flakes. However the film just isn't very interesting, the characters are undeveloped the script vague the ending unsatisfying, I can appreciate Ceylan intentions and his integrity but this film does very little for me.