In a remote area of Cappadocia a former actor Aydin (Bilinger) runs a hotel with his divorced sister (Nemet Akbag) and young wife (Sozen). A landlord of property in the local village, an incident arises when debt collectors bully an impoverished tenant (Nejat Isler) in front of his son. The humiliating incident is the catalyst for soul-searching for all concerned.
Typical of Ceylan it’s a long, slow, teased out story. Ceylan might present a scene, see how it plays out, before dropping in some crucial backstory information which makes the viewer rethink what just happened. A reversal of cause and effect. The ‘protagonist’ too is revealed in layers - it’s at least an hour in before Aydin is exposed as the villain, if that’s the right word, of the piece. Initially a pleasant, well-read, welcoming man, Ceylan spends the guts of the next two hours slowly stripping that away until a caustic, lonely and desperately sad old man remains.
Despite the picturesque setting – the snow, the Skywalker farm hotel with rooms jutting into the hillside – Ceylan’s film is visually drab with the majority if its long scenes taking place in darkened rooms of books, desks, lamps and fireplaces. A deliberate tactic, as he wants full concentration on what is being said and doesn’t want the eye to wander.
This is difficult as the very talky scenes can go on for eight, ten, twelve minutes - slowly cranking up, spinning off, taking a pleasant conversation into a debate, then a nasty argument. A lot of topics are addressed - all it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing; hypocrisy; the acceptance of one’s true nature. The dialogue has a natural progression. Nothing is forced. It feels real. But then it should - Ceylan is allowing himself eight, ten, twelve minutes to get there. Untypical of the writer-director, the conversations leave little room for interpretation.
Less engaging than Ceylan’s previous effort Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Winter Sleep’s casual employment of narrative can cause one to lose concentration and drift off.
