Three Monkeys Yavuz Bingol, Hatice Aslan, Ahmet Rifat Sungar, Ercan Kesal Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
A fatal hit-and-run in a dark forest; a phone call in the middle of the night; an underling leaving his helpless wife to do time for a crime his boss committed.
These disparate elements, which occur in the first 15 minutes of Three Monkeys, promise a taut suspense thriller, but the tension in film festival darling Nuri Bilge Ceylan's latest outing is what's invisible and unsaid, rather than what's happening on screen.
And there's a lot that remains hidden in Three Monkeys, a reference to the proverb about not seeing, hearing or speaking evil. Obscured are the feelings of Eyup (Yavuz Bingol) as he first takes the rap for his sleazy politician boss Servet (Ercan Kesal), and is then wronged again when he returns home from prison; young Ismael's (Ahmet Rifat Sungar) seemingly suppressed angst at Servet's encroachment into the family home, and the way her mother Hacer (Hatice Aslan, below with Bingol) gives way to his advances; and Hacer's own tribulations as she attempts to contain her own desires and needs with his husband away.
What makes Three Monkeys another gem in Ceylan's oeuvre is the way such intense internal schisms are played out amidst a remarkably poetic visual backdrop - from sunny views of the Bosphorus to portrayals of cramped apartments in desaturated colours. Slow and tantalising, Three Monkeys deserves to be seen, heard and talked about. Extras: A 30-minute interview with Ceylan.