Haifa International Film Festival 2014: Winter Sleep

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Winter Sleep/Photo: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Winter Sleep/Photo: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Winter Sleep is a film with the radiance and texture of an oil painting, a richly detailed portrait of the land and the life within it. Set in the Cappadocia region of Central Anatolia, a place whose cultural history goes back to the Bronze Age, and whose caves and tall formations of rock, homes and churches built and carved into the rock provide the imagination with all the materials for drama, the film finds its rhythm in the rhythms of nature, where human time is a mere moment. Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia 2011), the film won the Palme D’Or and Fipresci Prize at Cannes 2014, was screened at the Haifa International Film Festival 2014, where it won the Golden Anchor Award for films from Mediterranean countries, and will open in Israeli theatres on October 23, 2014.

Aydin (Haluk Bilginer) - Winter Sleep/Photo: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Aydin (Haluk Bilginer) – Winter Sleep/Photo: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Smoke rises from the dying embers of dry twigs, the misty landscape opens out to reveal a man sitting alone. The view opens out to reveal a village whose homes are built into the rock, literally part of the land. As the man makes his way onward, finally entering a hotel built into a cave, one learns from his conversations that he is the owner, Aydin (Haluk Bilginer).

Aydin describes his own situation quite well: “My kingdom may be small but at least I am the king there.” The town is small, and its luxuries are few. Even Aydin, a prosperous property owner, leads a relatively modest life.  When he needs to replace a car part, he has to make do with a generic brand, because that is all that is available. Yet he does have a Land Rover, and when something breaks, he has the money to fix it, which is far more than can be said about the other local residents, many of whom are tenants on property owned by Aydin and his sister Necla (Demet Akbag).

Ilyas (Emirhan Doruktutan) - one of those who sees Aydin, yet remains unseen and unnoticed - Winter Sleep/Photo: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Ilyas (Emirhan Doruktutan) – one of those who sees Aydin, yet remains unseen and unnoticed – Winter Sleep/Photo: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

A former actor, Aydin aspires to write a book on Turkish theatre, and in addition to running the hotel, writes a weekly column for the local paper (Voice of the Steppes), where he expresses his views and offers his criticism for the enlightenment of all. Frame by frame, one slowly learns more and more about Aydin and the lives of those around him, like thin layers of paint applied to a canvas with a delicate yet sure hand. Much of the action in this film is composed of the conversations that take place between Aydin and his sister Necla, his wife Nihal (Melisa Sözen), his assistant Hidayet (Ayberk Pekcan), and others. However, even here, it is always a deeply visual film, with as much conveyed in a look or the subtle tilt of a smile, as in the words themselves.

Nihal (Melisa Sözen) - Winter Sleep/Photo: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Nihal (Melisa Sözen) – Winter Sleep/Photo: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Set apart from the villagers by his wealth and education, Aydin also distances himself from those around him, as well as the reality and responsibilities of his situation. He prefers to survey life in the village from a lofty distance, commenting and giving orders to Hiyadet, without the necessity of considering the effects and consequences of those actions. When reality hits him, almost literally in the form of a rock thrown at his car, no one is more surprised than Aydin. As the film develops, one realizes that the opening scene reveals a deeper truth: Aydin is, in many ways, a man alone.

Aydin (Haluk Bilginer) - Winter Sleep/Photo: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Aydin (Haluk Bilginer) – Winter Sleep/Photo: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Among the books, furniture and artifacts in Aydin’s study, there are masks on the wall, relics of his days as an actor. In one very brief scene, a mere moment onscreen, Aydin, banished from a meeting that his wife Nihal is hosting in their home, sits in the study, wearing a mask that very much resembles that of Pantalone, a central character in the Commedia dell Arte with his long nose. Pantalone represents age, status and money. He thinks quite highly of himself and not much of those others, his inferiors, yet they usually get the better of him. Yes, the film is 196 minutes long, much longer than many of us wish to sit still in a movie theatre. Yet it is very much the work of a master, to be savored slowly and appreciatively, taking in the details.

Winter Sleep
Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan; Screenplay: Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan; Cinematography: Gokhan Tiryaki; Editing: Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Bora Goksingol; Art director: Gamze Kus; Set decorators: Dogan Ozcan, Isik Sapmaz; Sound, Andreas Mucke Niesytka; Cast: Haluk Bilginer, Melisa Sozen, Demet Akbag, Ayberk Pekcan, Serhat Kilic, Nejat Isler, Tamer Levent, Nadir Saribacak, Mehmet Ali Nuroglu, Emirhan Doruktutan, Ekrem Ilhan, Rabia Ozel, Fatma Deniz Yildiz, Masaki Murao, Junko Yokomizo, Gulsen Ozbakan, Ozlem Erol, Guler Kilic, Ali Kocaaslan, Hidir Kilic, Ali Kemer, Mehmet Turke, Merve Uzel, Hasan Kalci, Vahdi Olmez, Ozcan Gorurgoz, Ozge Onderoglu Akkaya, Gamze Kus. (Turkish, English dialogue)