What the past washes ashore / Dilhan Yılmaz

2018.06.14
yeniyasamgazetesi.com

The Disenchanted, directed by Selim Güneş, stands out with the poignant story of a young woman searching for love, a writer waiting for death and a loyal friend

Among the films opening this week, The Disenchanted stands out for its subject matter and rich visual language. Adapted from writer Mehmet Eroğlu’s novel of the same name, The Disenchanted is directed by Selim Güneş, who made the film White as Snow. The screenplay is also by Güneş, and the cast includes names such as Bahar Yanılmaz, Mert Tanık, Denise Ankel, Buğra Koçtepe, Lila Gürmen, Sevtap Özaltun, Hakan Emre Ünal, Cansu Fırıncı, İlyas Özçakır and Gürsan Piri Onurlu.

The dilemma of love and affection

Set in a town on the Aegean, the film conveys changing times, regret and loneliness to the viewer through the friendship of Kuzey and Sami and Kuzey’s being suddenly struck by love. Divided by the director into four episodes, the film opens the doors to love and affection, separation and reunion, all beginning in 1998, when the young and beautiful Şafak, who has come to Eski Foça to research the Greek villages, crosses paths with Kuzey at the Karayel hotel he runs. The film goes on to make the viewer a witness to the dilemma between love and affection, rooted in Kuzey’s feelings for Şafak, to the friendship and quarrels of Kuzey and Sami, to Kuzey’s search for his lost dog named “Benek”, and to Kuzey’s melancholic state of mind and sorrowful world.

Not forgetting the music

Making meaningful transitions between the episodes, the director succeeds in presenting the relationship between them as a whole. He also completes this with a visual language. Camera movements through which the emotion can be felt, points of view that enrich the story, sound design that sets the film’s rhythm and the balance between sound and silence make the film flow. Not forgetting the music we hear here and there…

Mythology, history and the sea…

Besides this, the fact that the film is set on the Aegean offers the viewer great visual pleasure, together with nature and history. That is why its Aegean setting is a big advantage for the film. Bringing together mythology, history, the sea and nature, the film takes the viewer to the stone and brick houses in Eski Foça and Yeni Foça left behind by the Greeks, which, though partly in ruins, have lost none of their beauty.

A writer waiting for death

‘Those who can break away from their past and those who never manage to’: Kuzey, the character in the film, is one of those who never manage it. In the story of Kuzey, full of long and wounding memories, you will find a young woman searching for love, a writer waiting for death and a loyal friend; the arithmetic of the words friendship, companionship, love, separation and affection is built anew.

*****

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