The Disenchanted / Ebru Çeliktuğ

Arka Pencere magazine, July 2018, Issue 8

“The Disenchanted”, adapted from Mehmet Eroğlu’s novel of the same name, bears the signature of Selim Güneş, who drew attention with his first film, the Sabahattin Ali adaptation “White as Snow”.

Mehmet Eroğlu’s novel “The Disenchanted”, published in 2005, has been adapted for the screen under the same title. “The Disenchanted” is directed by Selim Güneş, whom we know from his first film “White as Snow”, adapted from a story by Sabahattin Ali, and the text it is based on is a novel that takes considerable courage to adapt for the cinema. The Karaburun peninsula, much loved by the author and very rich and deep in historical and cultural texture, once again plays host to this novel too. The characters we meet most often in Eroğlu’s novels are the leftists of the 1968 generation who fought for the people. Kuzey (Mert Tanık), the hero of “The Disenchanted”, is also one of the revolutionaries who paid the price of the 1980 coup. With his close friend Sami (Buğra Koçtepe), who lost the ability to walk in a clash, he runs the Karayel Guesthouse in Foça. One day Şafak (Denise Ankel) arrives at the guesthouse, doing preliminary research for a documentary to be shot about the old Greek villages in the area. A love full of ebbs and flows begins between Şafak and Kuzey. Although the existence of Şafak’s fiancé on the one hand and her desire to discover the world on the other fall between the couple like a shadow, the relationship carries on passionately. Until one night, after a violent quarrel, Şafak just takes off and leaves. From then on Kuzey, resentful of life, seeks consolation in alcohol.

Although it is hard to stay faithful to the novel’s structure (in the novel the story is actually commissioned from a writer, and Kuzey’s relationship with Şafak and Kuzey’s relationship with Çiğdem are told in episodes spread over years, moving back and forth in time, a rather playful form), director Güneş, who also wrote the screenplay, has tried to simplify in order to pull off this difficult task. Since the screen adaptation of a 256-page novel obviously cannot be one-to-one, leaving some characters, events and stories out of the film is a sound choice on Güneş’s part. Güneş has also divided the film into the sections “Encounter”, “Love-Affection”, “Separation” and “Reunion”. Chief among the weaknesses of the screenplay, which concentrates on Kuzey’s inner world and his relationship with Şafak, is that after Şafak’s disappearance Kuzey’s older brother sends Çiğdem (Bahar Yanılmaz) about the transfer of the guesthouse, which is losing more and more money, and Çiğdem’s interest in Kuzey. Like Çiğdem, Handan (Lila Gürmen) is another incomprehensible character in the film. Who exactly these two characters are and what their role in the story really is remains in the dark.

Kuzey belongs to a generation that chased a dream that could never come true and ended up broken-hearted, the generation that gives the novel its name. He is a member of a revolutionary generation that, from 1980 on, was practically run over by a bulldozer. When it comes to love, though, he is quite clumsy. Despite the large age gap, Şafak is far braver and more revolutionary in love! Since the film puts its weight on the Kuzey–Şafak relationship, one wishes Kuzey’s stance on love and affection had not remained so closed.

OVERALL (2 / 5)
FORM (3 / 5) CONTENT (2 / 5) ACTING (1 / 5)

RELEASE 15 June
DIRECTOR Selim Güneş
SCREENPLAY Selim Güneş (from the novel by Mehmet Eroğlu)
CAST Mert Tanık, Denise Ankel, Bahar Yanılmaz, Buğra Koçtepe, Hakan Emre Ünal, Cansu Fırıncı
PRODUCTION 2017 Turkey
RUNNING TIME 89 min
DISTRIBUTION Başka Sinema

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