A man’s agreement to take the fall for his employer’s hit-and-run leads to the dissolution of his family in this quietly heartbreaking film by Turkish master Nuri Bilge Ceylan, winner of the Best Director prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. The compensation Eyüp (Yavuz Bingol) will receive in exchange for serving a short jail sentence for his politician boss appears to be well worth it. The large sum will seemingly make things easier for his working-class wife and may help his son pass the entrance exam for university. But the deal only drives the three of them further apart. Though the setup might suggest a melodrama, Ceylan (Distant, Climates) takes the material in a different direction with his trademark restraint, allowing revelations to unfold unexpectedly in the spaces between shots and words spoken. As in his earlier films, the characters’ growing isolation is expressed through the breathtaking and evocative landscapes that dwarf them, expanses in which natural elements have an almost tactile presence. Istanbul is as much a character as the family members themselves, with its oppressive summer heat and the lonely sounds of the port weighing on every scene. Three Monkeys confirms Ceylan’s talent for crafting intensely personal stories from some of the most sensual images being committed to film today. (109 min, Zeitgeist Films)

Showtimes: 1:45 pm, 4:35 pm, 7:35 pm, 9:55 pm. Saturday and Sunday matinee at 11:05 am.

View full SFFS Screen schedule


Written by Ebru Ceyland, Ercan Kesal, Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Photographed by Gökhan Tiryaki. With Ahmet Rifat Sungar, Hatice Aslan, Yavuz Bingöl.