Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s study of a fortysomething academic’s inability to balance his wants with his needs is both visually and dramatically compelling. Rarely has HD imagery matched the beauty of celluloid, but the key to Gökhan Tiryaki’s photography is the meticulous composition, which uses camera distance and angle to construe the characters’ emotions rather than simply capture them.
Ceylan himself is splendidly taciturn as the chauvinist whose failure to commit to his career is reflected in his exploitation of both his TV designer girlfriend and ex-lover. It all captures Robert Bresson’s sense of the melancholy that envelopes a largely helpless humanity.