Pandora’s Box: All about their mother
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Emrah Güler
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 31, 2009 00:00
Director Yeşim Ustaoğlu dissects middle-class sensibilities and decaying city life in her heartbreaking tale of a mother with no memory, three children on the verge of breakdowns and a confused grandson in ’Pandora’nın Kutusu’ (Pandora’s Box).
Having wowed crowds and garnered awards around the world at international film festivals, director Yeşim Ustaoğlu’s latest feature "Pandora’nın Kutusu" (Pandora’s Box), has finally come home for local audiences to enjoy.
For film lovers, the moment three siblings hop into one of the sisters’ middle-size car and travel to their hometown from Istanbul, it is a cinematic moment of joy and anticipation. Nesrin, Güzin and Mehmet are living, breathing characters. These are characters we have seen plenty of times in Turkish cinema, yet they are more real than most. The siblings’ meaningless banter disarms audiences instantly, leaving them wanting to know more.
The movie begins with no dialogue and two seemingly unrelated characters and scenes: An elderly woman in her decrepit home in the mountains and a boy waking up to a new day on the streets of Istanbul. The boy’s clothes and the constant ringing of his mobile phone indicates he is not homeless, but waking on the streets suggests there is something more to his middle-class existence than meets the eye.
Middle-class sensibilities and the constant flux of classes in big cities are at the core of Ustaoğlu’s film. Audiences are introduced to the three protagonists, siblings, and their suffocating lives before they come together with the news that their mother is missing in the mountains. Experienced actress Derya Alabora plays Nesrin, the elder sister, a control freak who has trouble ruling her marriage, her relationship with her son and her life in general. The second sister, Güzin, is a journalist who finds love and self-destruction in an affair, possibly with a married man, and is played by Övül Avkıran who won a Golden Orange award for Best Supporting Actress for her screen debut. The youngest sibling and only brother, Mehmet, played by Osman Sonant, is an anarchist and loser and one step away from becoming homeless.
As the three of them journey to the green mountains near the Black Sea, the popular region of Ustaoğlu, even the dark clouds surrounding their mother’s whereabouts are not enough to suspend their resentment of one another. This is a family lost in the demands of middle-class life and the choices about where to work, where to live, and their family.
After their mother is found wandering aimlessly in the mountains, the children discover they have another burden on their already tired shoulders: a mother with Alzheimer’s who needs care. French screen legend Tsilla Chelton plays the elderly mother to perfection, the broken accent of her occasional Turkish words are easily mistaken for those found in the Black Sea region, and the performance garnered her Best Actress awards at the San Sebastian and Amiens film festivals.
The mother has lost any sense of the present and observes gloomy city life with alarming curiosity, staying alternately with each of her children. All of the children are going through their own life crises, and a mother who urinates on carpets and wanders out the door the moment she finds it open, does not help any of their situations.
Special relationship
The movie takes a surprising turn as grandson Murat, who awoke on the streets at the beginning of the movie and later moves to his uncle’s shabby apartment, and his grandmother establish a special bond that transcends shared memories, small talk and dying traditions.
Murat, played with impressive subtlety by Onur Ünsal, and his grandmother create a special relationship that audiences love in movies. It reproduces special moments that are beyond words, social roles and the grind of everyday life. These two journey quietly across the distinctive areas of Istanbul and eventually travel back to the mountains, preparing audiences for some heartbreaking scenes.
The film might seem less political than Ustaoğlu’s previous "Bulutları Beklerken" (Waiting for the Clouds) and "Güneşe Yolculuk" (Journey to the Sun), but in reality, "Pandora’nın Kutusu" is a finer, more subtle take on social class, migration and the scary clash between rural and urban Turkey. Ustaoğlu brilliantly portrays a decaying city, a dreary middle-class and the city’s constant traffic, with her fine attention to detail.
This film is a Pandora’s box we are thankful has been opened.
For film lovers, the moment three siblings hop into one of the sisters’ middle-size car and travel to their hometown from Istanbul, it is a cinematic moment of joy and anticipation. Nesrin, Güzin and Mehmet are living, breathing characters. These are characters we have seen plenty of times in Turkish cinema, yet they are more real than most. The siblings’ meaningless banter disarms audiences instantly, leaving them wanting to know more.
The movie begins with no dialogue and two seemingly unrelated characters and scenes: An elderly woman in her decrepit home in the mountains and a boy waking up to a new day on the streets of Istanbul. The boy’s clothes and the constant ringing of his mobile phone indicates he is not homeless, but waking on the streets suggests there is something more to his middle-class existence than meets the eye.
Middle-class sensibilities and the constant flux of classes in big cities are at the core of Ustaoğlu’s film. Audiences are introduced to the three protagonists, siblings, and their suffocating lives before they come together with the news that their mother is missing in the mountains. Experienced actress Derya Alabora plays Nesrin, the elder sister, a control freak who has trouble ruling her marriage, her relationship with her son and her life in general. The second sister, Güzin, is a journalist who finds love and self-destruction in an affair, possibly with a married man, and is played by Övül Avkıran who won a Golden Orange award for Best Supporting Actress for her screen debut. The youngest sibling and only brother, Mehmet, played by Osman Sonant, is an anarchist and loser and one step away from becoming homeless.
As the three of them journey to the green mountains near the Black Sea, the popular region of Ustaoğlu, even the dark clouds surrounding their mother’s whereabouts are not enough to suspend their resentment of one another. This is a family lost in the demands of middle-class life and the choices about where to work, where to live, and their family.
After their mother is found wandering aimlessly in the mountains, the children discover they have another burden on their already tired shoulders: a mother with Alzheimer’s who needs care. French screen legend Tsilla Chelton plays the elderly mother to perfection, the broken accent of her occasional Turkish words are easily mistaken for those found in the Black Sea region, and the performance garnered her Best Actress awards at the San Sebastian and Amiens film festivals.
The mother has lost any sense of the present and observes gloomy city life with alarming curiosity, staying alternately with each of her children. All of the children are going through their own life crises, and a mother who urinates on carpets and wanders out the door the moment she finds it open, does not help any of their situations.
Special relationship
The movie takes a surprising turn as grandson Murat, who awoke on the streets at the beginning of the movie and later moves to his uncle’s shabby apartment, and his grandmother establish a special bond that transcends shared memories, small talk and dying traditions.
Murat, played with impressive subtlety by Onur Ünsal, and his grandmother create a special relationship that audiences love in movies. It reproduces special moments that are beyond words, social roles and the grind of everyday life. These two journey quietly across the distinctive areas of Istanbul and eventually travel back to the mountains, preparing audiences for some heartbreaking scenes.
The film might seem less political than Ustaoğlu’s previous "Bulutları Beklerken" (Waiting for the Clouds) and "Güneşe Yolculuk" (Journey to the Sun), but in reality, "Pandora’nın Kutusu" is a finer, more subtle take on social class, migration and the scary clash between rural and urban Turkey. Ustaoğlu brilliantly portrays a decaying city, a dreary middle-class and the city’s constant traffic, with her fine attention to detail.
This film is a Pandora’s box we are thankful has been opened.