Climates

‘Climates’ presents the break-up of a metropolitan couple, university lecturer Isa and television art director Bahar (played by Ceylan and his wife Ebru), whom we first meet on a Turkish beach not long before Isa suggests that they should separate. From here, Ceylan explores with acute observation and stunning photography Isa’s mixed, complex and utterly recognisable reaction to the split. Fans of ‘Uzak’ (‘Distant’), which played at the Festival in 2003, will welcome the director’s latest, which was sadly omitted from the prizes at this year’s Cannes, where it emerged as a firm favourite among critics. Those same fans will recognise Ceylan’s pared-down, quiet style of storytelling, which finds magnificence in the everyday and doesn’t allow one single word or action to stray from a complete vision of what it means to be living and loving today in Ceylan’s home city of Istanbul.