Film Description
| ÜÇ MAYMUN (THREE MONKEYS) | ||
| Director: | Nuri Bilge Ceylan |  |
| Country: | Turkey/France/Italy | |
| Year: | 2008 | |
| Language: | Turkish with English subtitles | |
| Runtime: | 109 minutes | |
| Rating: | NR | |
| Principal Cast: | Hatice Aslan, Gürkan Aydin, Yavuz Bingöl, Ercan Kesal, Ahmet Rifat Sungar | |
| Trailer: | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fNZcGV8aCc | |
| SCREENING TIMES | |||
| Thursday, November 13 | 9:00 PM | Art Gallery of Windsor | |
Winner: Best Director Cannes 2008
Expanding upon his work in Climates, Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan delivers another searing psychological drama about the unspoken dynamics in a dysfunctional family. Taking the proverbial "three monkeys" as its title and moral anchor, Ceylan's newest film is composed of tightly wound secrets; evils that are not seen, heard or spoken, but which wreak a distressing havoc on the characters' lives.
Servet (Ercan Kesal), a wealthy politician, has caused a hit-and-run accident, and persuades his driver, Eyüp (Yavuz Bingöl), to assume responsibility. Eyüp is promised a sizeable sum of money upon his release from prison, but this initial act of subterfuge leads to much darker deceits. In his absence, Eyüp's seductive wife Hacer (Hatice Aslan) becomes involved with Servet, and the couple's brooding teenaged son Ismail must carry the weight of their secret when he visits his father in jail.
Eyüp's release functions as a metaphorical unleashing of past indiscretions - his family's deceits, desires, infidelities and anxieties surface as grand moral fictions. Ceylan plays these against one another, harnessing the inability of Eyüp, Hacer, Ismail and Servet to communicate among themselves and wringing the resulting tension through every scene. Blind to the violence and moral decay brought about by their actions, they eventually - and collectively - come to personify the eponymous monkeys.
As he did on Climates, Ceylan works here with cinematographer Gökhan Tiryaki to produce breathtaking high-definition images, again demonstrating the exceptional potential of digital technology. Ceylan's sombre aesthetic and bracing statements make for a thrilling investigation into the mysterious contradictions of the human soul. This is a stunning work that confirms Ceylan as a master of hisart.
Dimitri Eipides
© 2008 Toronto International Film Festival Group
