WINTER SLEEP
Turkey, 2014, 196 minutes, Colour.
Haluk Bilginer, Melisa Sozen.
Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
Wintersleep is the latest film from the distinguished Turkish director, Nuri Bilge Ceylan. It is fair to say that his films are only for a specialised audience, not for the multiplex audience.
His earlier film was Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, immersing the audience in the mountainous countryside, the lives, happy and unhappy, of the inhabitants. This description is true of Wintersleep (although the screenplay is based on some stories by Anton Chekhov). As the winter season moves in, we are almost trapped in a snow-covered town, sharing lives with a few of the inhabitants, listening to their interactions, liking and disliking some of them, spending a great deal of time listening to their conversations.
Ayden, a former actor now writing the history of Turkish theatre, lives in retirement with his young wife, Nihal, managing a hotel for visitors – there are rather few. He is sometimes reclusive, is rather commanding of his wife who begins to resent this, having long discussions with his somewhat acerbic sister. One of the main conversations with his sister must go for about half an hour, very interesting if you have become involved, tedious and off-putting if you have stopped listening. There is a later conversation with his wife which does not go on for so long but has the same effect.
There is some drama when Ayden is driving with his manager and a young boy throws a stone which shatters the glass of the car window. This leads to some conflict, the father of the boy who has spent time in prison reprimanding him but resentful of the situation. His younger brother, a local imam, is a good man of peace who tries reconciliation. Just when we might have forgotten about this subplot, it is reintroduced towards the end of the film, a visit from Nihal, a gift for the family, the reaction of the boy, of the cantankerous brother, of the genial imam.
Ayden has some friends with whom he goes hunting, spends a lot of time drinking and talking with them. In between the conversations there are some visitors at the hotel, especially an Asian couple who have cheerfully enjoyed their stay.
The screenplay is intelligently written, well worth listening to. The design of the film and the photography are exemplary. The director’s pacing, with more than three hours at his disposal, means that this is a beautifully directed film, destined to be something of a cult classic, confirming the reputation of the director who had already won the Best Director award in Cannes 2008 for Three Monkeys, and The Grand Prize of the Jury in 2003 for Uzak and for Once Upon a Time in Anatolia in 2012. Wintersleep is something of a culmination for the director, winning him the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2014.
1. Acclaim and awards for the film? The reputation of the director? His style, insights and technique?
2. The setting of Anatolia, the mountains and fields, the town on the outskirts, the caves and buildings of Cappadocia? The winter season? The snow, the ice? The musical score?
3. The title, real, symbolic? Characters and situations in winter? The origins in Chekhov stories?
4. The beauty of the photography, the musical score, the pace and editing, the emphasis on dialogue, dramatic situations?
5. The focus on Aydin? His screen presence? The former actor, the theatre, writing his history of the theatre, owning the hotel, managing it, the few guests and the service? His wife, relationship with her, tensions? His divorced sister, her presence, his discussions with her? His manager? In the truck, the boy breaking the window? The interview with the father, with the email? Audiences understanding his personality better, his self-assurance, his arrogance? How sensitive, insensitive? The clash with his wife and the decision to go to Istanbul, to the station, his decision not to go, with the manager, visiting the hunters, the talk, the drink, the effect? his return? Writing the history?
6. His wife, young, the past relationship, the tensions in the present, her work in the hotel, their discussions, his love for her or not, the effect on her? Her taking the money, going to the house, the discussions with the imam, seeing the boy, for his education? The father coming in, his hostility, destroying the money? Her dismay, return to the hotel?
7. The boy, breaking the window, the recent? His mother? The house? The father, his present background, harshness? Discipline of his son? The imam, generous man? Aydin’s wife and her visit, the father’s anger, the imam and, the consequences of the burning?
8. The manager, his role in the house, driving Aydin, telling his wife about Aydin’s decision not to go to Istanbul? Her work around the hotel?
9. The portrait of Aydin’s sister, her situation, the long sequence of their discussion, the issues, antagonism, each revealing their character to the other?
10. The emphasis on dialogue, the long dramatic situations, audience attention? The editing and keeping audience interest?
11. The overall impact of the story and the treatment, a Turkish perspective?
