MUSTANG

France/Germany/Turkey, 2015, 97 minutes, Colour.
Gunes Sensoy.
Directed by Deniz Gamze Erguven.

Mustang is an arresting title for a film – the image of the wild young horse which needs bridling and training. This means that Mustang is a symbolic title for this film, for five comparatively wild young sisters and the particular discipline that is imposed on them in their traditional household in northern Turkey.

This is a first film from a young Turkish-born director who has been living in France. With French and German money, she has filmed her story in Turkey itself and in Turkish.

A number of commentators have remarked on a similarity of plot with Sofia Coppola’s 1999 American story of five sisters and their strict parents, The Virgin Suicides. Future seminar organisers might screen the two films encouraging dialogue about family life, discipline, the aspirations of young women, presuppositions about how young girls should behave, especially from a conservative point of view.

The girls in this film have not appeared on screen before. They give very persuasive performances, lively at the opening of the film as the school holidays begin, they farewell a beloved teacher to Istanbul, go cavorting on the beach and in the water with a group of boys only to find themselves suspected of bad sexual behaviour, interrogated by their grandmother, punished and put under the control of their uncle. They are virtually imprisoned in the house, in their small rooms, sack -like dresses made for them and discipline being imposed on them – although, surprisingly, they do get out one day and catch the bus with young people all going to a football match.

The tradition in the house and in the village is very much that young girls must be controlled, that chastity is the overriding virtue, especially in view of their being virgins when they are married. As the film progresses, it is clear that this is the destiny for each of the girls in turn. One is able to marry someone she loves but the second daughter suffers an arranged marriage, its interrogations, formalities, and medical inspections about virginity.

There is a brief commentary every so often but this comes from the youngest girl, Lale, sometimes full of mischief, sometimes cheeky, but becoming more and more critical of the confined life of herself and her sisters. She does take some initiatives, including persuading a young man with a truck who has helped her and her sisters catch the football bus to teach her how to drive. He plays a crucial role in the resolution of the situation for the remaining two sisters.

The grandmother is severe but that is how she has been brought up and carries on traditions. the girls’ uncle, is typical enough of the authoritarian men in the town, but he is also seen going into the rooms at night of some of the sisters.

Depending on cultures, audiences will have varied perspectives on the girls themselves, their desired freedom, the impositions of their traditions. While the film is set in northern Turkey, there is no explicit mention of Islam, no quotes from the Koran, life being rather secular in terms of religious practice.

The film was one of the Oscar nominees for Foreign Language Films in 2015.

1. The title? The image for the young girls?

2. The director and her background in France? German finance? The film made in Turkey and in Turkish? Contemporary Turkish society? Conservative towns, women and their place, restrictive? The male perspective? The older women complying? The male comments about feminism? The outlook on the world – and the information and trends coming on the media, especially television?

3. The visuals of the Turkish town, the mountains surrounding, the Black Sea coast, the roads and highways, homes, neighbours? The details of ordinary life, sports matches, the traffic?

4. The narrative by Lale? Her perspective on herself, on her sisters, on the situations?

5. The introduction to the girls, end of school, uniforms, their attitudes, playful, the farewell to the loved teacher, especially for Lale? The decision to walk, along the beach, going into the water, playful, the boys, going into the orchard, taking the apples, their being warned off?

6. Arriving home, the grandmother with the neighbour’s gossip and report, with each of the girls in the room, punishing each? The reactions? Audience sympathy?

7. The uncle, his stern attitudes towards the girls, his deference to his mother? Their dead parents, their situation, expectations of them?

8. The girls being confined, the rooms, meals, the dresses looking like sacks, being locked away, eventually having bars on the windows?

9. The focus on chastity, the girls’ behaviour at the beach with the boys and their being criticised for sexual behaviour? Doctors and examinations for virginity? Male expectations for chaste wives? The older women fostering this? The effect on the girls?

10. The football matches, the decision to get out, finding Yasin and his truck, getting on board, chasing the bus, the exuberance in going to the match, their being seen on television, the aunt smashing the TV connection and the generator outside? Their quiet return?

11. Lale, leadership, cheeky, misbehaving?

12. The boy, the sign on the road and his love for Sonay? Selma, the preparation marriage, interrogations, ceremony? The contrast with Selma, the choice of her husband, his family, formalities, interviews, the ceremony, not Selma’s choice? The honeymoon? Her being sent for examination by the doctor, her promiscuous remark, her still being a
virgin?

13. The outing with the uncle, not staying in the car, the sister in the car, letting the boy come in, the sexual encounter?

14. The girl, reprimands – and her going out, killing herself? The sadness of the funeral?

15. Yasin, Lale and her decision to run away, talking, issues, return home, her later asking him to teach her to drive, her enjoyment of the experience?

16. The severity of the uncle, going to the girls’ rooms, abuse and audience attitudes towards him?

17. Nur, the plan for her to marry, the interviews, her being dressed as a bride, Lale and her helping her make decisions? To leave the party? Barricaded in the house?

18. Lale, altering her hair, making the doll and leaving it in the bed, taking the money, the two getting out, the uncle’s car keys, taking the car, phoning Yusin, waiting for him to come, his taking them to the bus station?

19. The trip to Istanbul, waking up, the address, going to the house of the teacher, their being welcomed?

20. The effect of this experience, audience response to the treatment of women, inferior, arranged marriages, sexual abuse, physical punishment?

21. The perspective of the people in the village from cultural traditions – with no explicit mention of Islam or the Koran?