I have seen two films in the last weeks that made a big impression on
me. Winter Sleep is one of them and Serena the other. My assessment of the
length of the films was as it turned out subjective. Winter Sleep is 3 hours
and 16 minutes and Serena 1 hour and 49 minutes. Yet, in the second half of
Serena I had an impression that I have
been watching another veeery long film.
I consider Winter Sleep an outstanding film for many reasons, Serena
seems to me to be an outstandingly silly film also for many reasons. Serena
should not have been made at all in my opinion. My movie companion was
wondering what made those relatively good and popular actors Jennifer Lawrence
and Bradley Cooper take the roles. She also downgraded the rating given in
Rotten Tomatoes (1.5) to -5.
| Beautiful people but a very silly story |
It is a really silly story which I fully realised
trying to summarise it to my friend. There are a couple of interesting points
related to the film though. Rhys Ifans known to me better as Spike from Notting
Hill plays is the film. I have not noticed him playing in any other film so far
but now he caught my attention. Not that he played well his pathetic role in
Serena, he was not funny there at all. Sad role and sad story.
 |
| I preferred him as Spike |
I also found out
that the film was made in Prague. This is a very beautiful city but there was
no opportunity to show the town maybe except for some interiors.
Winter Sleep is not a film which I would easily recommend either, but I
had a ball. No much fun but bringing many points worth thinking about. Human
conditions type of questions concerning universal dilemmas:
• To what extent are we able to
look at ourselves objectively
• How to help others without
humiliating receivers of our benevolence
• Gaps between intentions and
results of related action
• Human reactions or lack of it
towards evil
Those are questions without answers really, even though we humans try
again and again to answer them. Nuri Bilge Ceylan, the director of the film
does it in a way that I got some new insights to the life dilemmas. He made
many films by now but this is the only one I have seen. I will try to fill in
the obvious gap in my familiarity with Turkish cinematography. And Ceylan in
particular.
Three names of world deep thinkers and writers are often mentioned in
relation to the film : Dostoyevsky, Chekhov and Shakespeare. Heavy weight, all
of them and that includes Ceylan who is apparently a Chekhov’s fan.
| Dark interiors of the hotel create sense of intimacy and show the mood of the film |
The film takes place in a beautiful and haunting Cappadocia. Watching
the film I developed strong desire to go and visit the caves and stay in a cave
hotel for few days.
Aydin, the hero of the film runs such a hotel. He has been a successful
and famous actor and now is a man of considerable means who lives in his cave
palace on top of the mountain and owns a village lower down. People who live
there depend on his governance. They are like serfs at a mercy of a king. Is
the king Aydin a good king? He wants to appear as such but his sporadic
generosity only serves his own purpose. He is strangely uninvolved in matters
of the village.
His courtly remoteness often
hides cruelty. He is like a schoolmaster ready to punish his villagers, his
wife and his sister. Or at least sermon them in a patronising and belittling
way. We observe him often through the eyes of his wife and his sister and we
see a deeply lonely and cruel man who can watch suffering with indifference.
Detached observer of pain and cruelty inflicted on others.
I was particularly moved by the scene of taming a wild horse. The drama
of taking by force spirit, freedom and dignity of the animal through violence
of the strongers is heart breaking. Symbolic horrifying scene.
