Three Monkeys – Iç maymun (2008)

Directed by: Nuri Bilge Ceylan | 109 minutes | drama | Actors: Yavuz Bingol, Hatice Aslan, Rifat Sungar, Ercan Kesal, Cafer Köse, Gürkan Aydin

Nuri Bile Ceylan (Turkey, 1959) scored a real arthouse hit in 2002 with ‘Uzak’ and then achieved success in Cannes in 2006 with the film ‘Iklimler’ (‘Climates’). Ceylan delivers another strong psychological drama with ‘Three Monkeys’. Ceylan focuses on a wedding drama. Fans who expect a strong action film based on the film description will be surprised, however. Director Ceylan lets almost all dramatic, action-packed events take place off-screen, allowing the viewer to fully concentrate on the dramatic consequences of those events.

Servetus is a politician who falls asleep at the wheel of his car and then kills someone. Elections are coming up and he cannot use such a scandal. He manages to get his driver Eyüp to take the blame in exchange for a hefty sum of money that he can put to good use. While Eyüp is in prison, his son Ismael fails his exams and wants to earn money with a taxi. To finance this, he comes up with the idea of ​​asking for an advance. When Eyüp’s wife Hacer asks boss Servet for an advance, a relationship eventually develops between the two. Suspicions of adultery are partly expressed, but at the same time suppressed. Doubts and guilt reign. People don’t always want to face the truth, everyone eventually lies to everyone else or pretends not to know painful things. Is not wanting to see or tell reality a betrayal of yourself and others or is it more an attempt at (self) protection? When Eyüp is free again, the pressure mounts and the brooding tension gets bigger and bigger. The consequences are inevitable….

The fact that Ceylan was a photographer in an earlier phase of his career can be clearly seen in this film. The enchanting images are magnificent from a compositional point of view. The shots are often held for a long time, so some film viewers may find the pace a bit slow. The dialogues in the film are sparse, but at the same time the game and the images evoke a sublime subcutaneous tension in terms of atmosphere. Magisterial dark stormy skies and thunderclaps enhance the cinematographic aspect. Yavuz Bingol’s performance as Eyüp is impressive, but Hatice Aslan and Ahmet Rifat Sungar also play convincingly as wife Hacer and son Ismail.

Winner of Best Direction at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, ‘Three Monkeys’ is a brooding psychological drama with strong acting performances. The powerful camera work is all cinematic splendor. A blistering film full of vengeance bubbling beneath the surface (and with a surprising ending).