Ouch. My bum is still numb – 190 minutes of a beautifully unfolding drama set in stunningly weird landscape of Cappadocia in central Turkey during the winter months.
Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan is renowned for building slowly (his last, the award-winning crime drama Once Upon a Time in Anatolia fairly zipped along at 157 minutes!) – so don’t expect fireworks. Winter Sleep is almost theatrical in structure – six or seven scenes over the course of the film where characters (mainly in twos and threes) converse and discuss issues of concern. It’s a serious film with little light relief (so no shame in admitting to a little semi-dozing here and there). But stick with it – resolve is rewarded.
Winter Sleep collected the Palme D’Or at Cannes.
Rating: 77%
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, The Small Town)
Writer: Ebru Ceylan (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia,Three Monkeys), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, The Small Town) based on Anton Chekhov’s The Wife
Main cast: Haluk Bilginer (Polis, Innocence), Melisa Sözen (Pazarlari Hiç Sevmem, Hunting Season), Ayberk Pekcan (Hair, Love & Revolution), Demet Akbag (Hükümet Kadin, Eyyvah Eyvah)
An Opinion or Two 