Winter Sleeps is a great film that is directed by Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan and co-written by his wife Ebru. It won the director a Palme D’or at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film discusses the relationship between an old rich man and his young beautiful wife. As in most of these situations – the marriage is doomed to despair because of the differing views of life of both the individuals in this relationship.
Aydin the elderly husband (Demet Akbag) of Nihal ( Melisa Sozen) is part of the rich landed gentry that cares little about the poor or Islam. Nihal on the other hand finds joy in helping to fund a school for the local poor children.
This film also subtly discusses the ills of Turkish society which is rather interesting to observe. The setting of the film is in Cappadocia in Central Anatolia where weathering has produced exquisite scenery.
I feel at 196 minutes, the film was a bit long but I suppose the director needed that amount of time to get his ideas across. I would like to end with the words of the The Telegraph ( UK). ” A beast, a beauty and a castle in the snow. Winter Sleep has all the key components of a fairy tale but it’s magic blows through the film in whispering breaths, raising the hair on your arms even as you barely notice the air movement”