This is the story of a father and his three daughters. The father is a widower living in a village in Central Anatolia. He is a simple man who takes great pride in the fact that he is good friends with the village chief. He feels that he has done well by all his daughters. After all, he found them good foster homes where they were kept in relative comfort in exchange for looking after their foster siblings! Thus, he finds himself to be out of options when one by one all his daughters return back to the village after losing their positions in their foster homes in the city. He does not understand the emotional needs of his daughters and yet one can't help but feel sorry for the poor guy. He is an old-fashioned chap who is ill-equipped to handle the crises in his daughters' lives without their mother at his side.
Reyhan, the eldest daughter, is a new mother. Her baby is the pride and joy of her life. As the story unfolds, we learn that she had an affair with her foster father, Mr. Necati, who also happens to be a doctor. At some point in the story, she hints that Mrs. Necati once caught them in flagrante delicto. Reyhan is sent back to the village where she later discovers that she is pregnant with the doctor's child (Did I say that the movie requires a little bit of suspension of disbelief?). When she has labour pains, she runs into the forest and has her baby all by herself! She then goes to town and leaves the baby on the doctor's doorstep hoping that he'll take care of it. A while later, in the hope that she can probably take care of all the children of the doctor's household, she goes back. The doctor's wife gets suspicious and Reyhan is asked to return to her village along with her infant son. Back in the village, she marries Veysel. However, she finds it hard to respect or love him, even though she is not above taking advantage of his inebriated condition!
Nurhan is the quintessential middle child. She is desperate for attention and affection. She replaces Reyhan in the doctor's household after Reyhan is sent back to the village. She loves the children but is resentful of the bedwetting habits of one of her charges. She figures that if she catches a cold, she would not be asked to wash the soiled sheets and perhaps her foster parents would take measures to stop their son's bedwetting behaviour. However, she is horrified to find that her foster parents still expect her to wash the soiled sheets even though she is ill. She gets rebellious, tries to discipline the bedwetter and is soon kicked out of her foster house.
Havva, the youngest daughter, is the most naive character in the story. She lost her position in her foster home because her charge died. Back in her village home, the home of her birth, she feels like a stranger. The house seems new to her. She misses her foster mother and the deceased baby. She even dreams of giving birth to a baby who resembles her beloved charge, prompting her return to the foster home! Her father is trying to place her in the doctor's home provoking Nurhan's jealousy. She learns of her eldest sister, Reyhan's past and is deeply disappointed. Then, she sees the sick Nurhan suffer while the doctor, her foster parent doesn't even bother to pay her a visit.
Veysel is Reyhan's husband. He loves her even though he knows that she only married him for the sake of her child. He wants to make a good life for his little family but being illiterate, uncultured and jobless, he finds himself at a great disadvantage. To make matters worse, the village has a dying economy; the coal mines are collapsing and the young people find themselves with no job opportunities. Veysel hates tending his father-in-law's sheep, but being penniless and untrained, he doesn't have much choice. He is tired and frustrated of being considered a bumbling idiot. He asks the doctor to get him a job in the city but his jealousy gets the better of him. At this point, you pity him and feel that he is his own worst enemy. Soon enough, in a fit of terrible rage, he accidentally ends up killing his foster son! On a run from the police, he finds himself in the company of bandits, the very people that he is afraid of during the beginning of the movie. However, the harsh frost-ridden winters and bad company prove to be his undoing. He seeks absolution for his sins from Reyhan but the bereaved mother is too angry to be forgiving. She even tells him that she is pregnant with his child but would go to Ankara & get it aborted. Guilty, desperate and heart broken, he hangs himself.
This movie has a plot that reminded me of a Greek tragedy. The characters are all trying to break a vicious circle, but their circumstances get the better of their intentions. The father finds himself in a vicious circle of offering one after the other of his daughters to the doctor's household, even though it always ends badly. Reyhan makes mistakes after mistakes, ultimately hurting herself, her offspring and all the rest of the family in the process. Nurhan pays for her bad decisions with her health and possibly her life. Veysel's misfortune and temper bring a lot of suffering all around and eventually his life falls into a downward spiral.
Overall, a good movie with perfect acting, cinematography and direction. Unfortunately, it has an uneven storyline.
P. S. This reviewer couldn't help but notice that the only happy person in this story was the crazy lady who enjoyed half somersaults on the floor!
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