Three Monkeys

Colour, 35 mm
Turkey, France, Italy, 2008, 109 min
Section: Open Eyes

Synopsis

A politician’s personal driver, Eyup, takes the blame for his boss’s traffic accident and goes to jail in his place. His wife, Hacer, is left alone with their adolescent son Ismail. In order to get the boy the money he needs for the car he’s been dreaming of, she goes to the politician for help. But she ends up getting more involved with him than she would have wanted. Like the three famous wise monkeys, the three members of the family “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”. The crisis that leads the family into long estrangement and penury results in tragedy. This minimalist family drama is filmed in a polished visual style, with carefully lit shots creating wildly beautiful sets. Full of shadows, hopelessness and darkness, most of the story unfolds under the surface. The protagonists appear passive, enveloped in a veil of pride that keeps them from getting close to one another. Three Monkeys took the award for Best Director at this year’s Cannes festival.

About the director

Nuri Bilge Ceylan (b. 1959, Istanbul) graduated from the Engineering Department of Bosphorus University and then studied filmmaking for two years at Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul. His short film Cocoon (Koza, 1995) was followed by three feature-length works that constituted his “quest trilogy” – Small Town (Kasaba, 1997), Clouds of May (Mayis sikintisi, 1999) and Distant (Uzak, 2003). In 2006 he made Climates (Iklimer, 2006). Ceylan’s Distant took the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, where Three Monkeys won this year’s prize for Best Director. The Karlovy Vary festival has successively screened the films Small Town, Distant and Climates.