WINTER SLEEP

www.cbsnews.com

Original Title: Kış Uykusu

Directed by: Nuri Bilge Ceylan. 

Starring: Haluk Bilginer, Melisa Sözen, Demet Akbag.

Running time: 196 minutes.

Three-hour-chamber epic that does not makes you yawn at all. Only few directors manages to pull this magic, including Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Winter Sleep is about anything and something that is driven by dialogue and superb acting. An aging actor, Aydin (Haluk Bilginer) who refused to be called as actor but thespian, is a wealthy man in his village. He has a cottage to cater the needs of tourist and a land where the tennats does not see him in a friendly manner.

But his world crumbles as a boy hit his car window with a stone. That event triggers a crack in his family's life. His wife feels as if she has no role thus start a social comittee, the sister felt as if her life is incomplete and Aydin himself realizes that his so called intellectual lifestyle, keeps him away from daily minutiae.

This is laos rich in other themes such as moral ambiguity, social class, ethics,religion and hypocrisy. In one scene Aydin seems irritated by the local imam about some trivial matter (it is of importance to the imam but not to Aydin), but soon the scene changes as Aydin recite one of his articles about religious piety.

Such broad themes can be made simple and personal around long, literate, sometimes funny and bitter conversations. It is clear that all his "intellectual" pursuits from Aydin is nothing more than just a facade to hide Aydin to bear with his real self. The characters reminded you of characters in Ingmar Bergman's movie and the dialogue is meditative just like Russian novels.

Is this for everybody? I don't know but if you want to expand your emotional spectrum, you should try Winter Sleep. Just like Once Upon A Time in Anatolia, this one is rewarding. Don't let the duration turns you down, you will be dazzled by the dialogue and acting.