Rent Winter Sleep (2014)

What a brilliant film! - Winter Sleep review by VC

So, this isn't a film for people with short attention spans! You really have to listen (ie watch the subtitles!) all the time or you miss important points. Unusually, this film has important points all the way through - all three hours of it.

The dialogue is like nothing you would normally hear in British conversations, nowadays, and unfortunately. It is extremely natural, and in fact the acting is incredibly natural. So many facets of the human heart are expressed continually, and yet nothing is forced. I have never watched a Turkish film before, and I was surprised at its depth, which reminded me of Russian writers like Solzhenitsyn and Dostoyevsky.

The filming was stunning - lovely to watch. There were odd moments where images were shown briefly, and I think they must have been symbolic, but they were easy to miss. For example, the dead deer and the crows perched up in the trees. None of those symbolic images were laboured in any way, and they seemed to be expressing brief subliminal thoughts of the characters, rather than some grand artistic point the Director was making.

I also found myself looking at the interiors of the houses, trying to figure out why there were three gigantic garlic cloves (?) in an alcove, or what the strange masks on the walls were! Yes, the film was long, and I also had to do it in several sessions, but some things are worth a bit of effort. Despite the length and the densely packed dialogue, my attention was held all the way through.

I don't know how the Director got the actors to behave so naturally. It must have taken ages to get them all to really "be" their characters.

Totally absorbing and highly recommended, especially for those of us who are starved of real human intercourse in our trivial society.

Much too long - Winter Sleep review by KB

My first Turkish film.

My, what a long conversation!

There wasn't much going on, other than discussion after discussion.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear people arguing QUIETLY though.

Lovely scenery, quite atmospheric, but why were there only TWO guests at the hotel?

It's cold outside. - Winter Sleep review by RhysH

Despite the fact that most of the scenes are in small interior spaces it is the outside landscape that dominates. It is always there, uncompromisingly cold, vast and unyielding. That coldness has seeped into the characters in this intriguing Nuri Bilge Ceylan film. There is little genuine warmth between any of the characters. They talk endlessly about evil, social divisions and religion but the talk never really develops into debate as each pontificates, their ideas well rehearsed. Nobody smiles except the local imam, a great performance by Serhat Mustafa Kiliç, and his smile is pure obsequiousness.

The main character Aydin wears his intellectual arrogance lightly not aware that he always lapses into condescension. A studied and poignant performance by Haluk Bilginer.

Aydin's wife, beautifully played by Melisa Sozen, realises that even so young, her life has not turned out in the idealistic manner she would have liked. And Aydin's sister, a measured performance by Demet Akbag, oozes sarcastic indifference.

One of Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Chekovian masterclasses.

Couldn't finish it - Winter Sleep review by CP Customer

We gave up watching after about 1/3 of it, as it had only produced some repetitive conversations about (spoiler alert) a broken car window. Whilst the way it is filmed feels very naturally slow, we just didn't have any appetite for another two hours. Based on other reviews, it may have had more to offer, but we just didn't want to find out.

It very much felt like the stereotypical Cannes festival winner, a very long film that put the jury to sleep but, as none would be prepared to admit to it, they gave it the top prize.

Long but well done - Winter Sleep review by ll

Very well filmed in an intriguing location. A human interaction drama really with a number of scenes of long but well scripted dialogue. Very long though. Score is the average of a one and a five which perhaps means its not to all tastes. Beautifully done though.

A long haul and I have to confess being a big fan of foreign films, particularly French ones. - Winter Sleep review by MB

I thought I would try something different, but, this one which no doubt is really superb, I really couldn't go the distance. Sorry.

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the winds - Winter Sleep review by CH

As a fan of Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Winter Sleep did not disappoint (less enthusiastic viewers than myself admitting to a sort of catatonia or hibernation throughout this long slow film) The cavelike rock dwellings of Cappodocia have been renovated to draw tourists but as winter approaches and the last guests leave, a sullen lassitude descends on the hotel initially broken by the perennial irritation of surly problem tenants with a resentful young son, who has lobbed a rock at the car window of landlord Aydin and his rent collecting agent. Aydin’s divorced sister has come to stay indefinitely and she cruelly mocks his casual air of studied erudition in his weekly column of the local newspaper. The atmosphere sours further when Aydin unwisely offers his wife (unwanted) practical advice running her local charity and from here the metaphoric snowball of simmering resentments just keeps rolling on, gathering  more and more tensions, aggravations and heated rivalries. Just like Christmas then. Marvellous !