Nuri Bilge Ceylan interview

Geoff Andrew examines the work of the director of 'Climates', this year's Time Out LFF Gala Screening.

Oct 19 2006

Nuri Bilge Ceylan has just four features and a short to his name, but the young-ish Turk is one of the most rewarding filmmakers working today. Only 'Uzak' ('Distant', 2002) has been released here so far, so that may sound an extravagant claim, especially as the film is an unusually modest, low-key affair. But Ceylan is special, which is why TO has selected his latest – 'Climates' – for our LFF Critics' Choice screening. For the uninitiated, then, here's a brief primer on what Ceylan's up to.

His first three features – 'Uzak' was preceded by 'The Small Town' (1998) and 'Clouds in May' (2000) – revealed a filmmaker rapidly developing his already considerable skills (he was a photographer before turning writer-director) and refining his art; fascinatingly, the films reflect back on their predecessors in various ways. 'The Small Town's' gentle, meandering narrative centres on a teenage girl and her young brother as they go to school and play in the fields around their small Anatolian town; later, they listen in to a (slightly) heated discussion as their family camps out during a harvest festival. Little happens, but Ceylan ensures we become acutely aware not only of the children's perceptions of their world – the weather and pace of life, the places where they feel free – but of the social, economic and historical factors influencing the family, notably the seductive but false dream of a better life in the city.

'Clouds in May', set in the same town, finds a filmmaker who lives in Istanbul returning to visit his parents and make a film in which, helped by his cousin, he finally persuades them to perform. Intriguingly, the parents – played by M Emin and Fatma Ceylan, Nuri's own parents – had played the grandparents in 'The Small Town', and 'Clouds…' 'recreates' the shooting of that movie's picnic scene. There's self-reflexive commentary here, with Ceylan examining the responsibilities of using real life and non-professional actors for his movies: the filmmaker in 'Clouds…' exploits those around him to further his art while barely registering that they too have concerns of their own.

'Uzak', set in a snowy Istanbul, charts the tensions arising between a disenchanted photographer and a country cousin who comes to stay in his apartment while looking for work. The two characters are played by the same people who played the filmmaker and his cousin in 'Clouds…', but we're not talking actual sequels here, and because the films can't be reduced to a narrative series, the echoes create a resonance that lends the films a certain universality. It's as if Mehmet Emin Toprak (who was indeed Ceylan's cousin and who died, tragically, in a car accident shortly after 'Uzak' was completed) takes on near-archetypal status, representing all those cousins left behind to get bored with smalltown life and who, when they eventually get to the city, don't fit in well anyway. Muzaffer Özdemir, meanwhile, who played the filmmaker and the photographer, evokes the disappointments of all those artistic types who for some reason never fulfil their initial promise or ambitions, instead – almost unwittingly – selling their souls to Mammon.

In his quiet, understated way, Ceylan confronts the big questions: what are we doing with our lives? How does the past influence the present and future? How may we reconcile our dreams and ideals with disappointing reality? How can relationships with family and friends survive when the world is changing so quickly and people are always moving on in search of something 'better'? And like many artists who attain universal relevance, he does so by focusing on small, specific details known from first-hand experience. Ceylan takes this to an extreme, casting family and friends, using tiny crews of a mere handful of people, and producing, writing, shooting, directing, editing and even selling his films himself. The results are essentially poetic; favouring impressionistic ellipsis and discreet metaphor, he's keenly alert to place and time and how they affect our moods. But there's also his deliciously deadpan sense of humour, rooted in a view of life that's almost tragically absurd, so that one recalls not only Chekhov and Kiarostami but Keaton.

So to 'Climates', a three-act story about a photographer (again!) approaching middle-age and his younger girlfriend – played by Ceylan himself and his wife Ebru. It's a mordantly funny, painfully honest tale of frustration, betrayal, break-up and the possibility of reconciliation, firmly grounded in a sorrowing awareness of the male psyche. Its scale, tone and dramatic subtlety are wholly in keeping with its predecessors, but it also shows Ceylan is one of the very few filmmakers to have made truly fruitful use of the new possibilities afforded by High Definition technology. Though there are shots of astonishing detail and breathtaking beauty, the visual splendour is never merely decorative; the meticulous images remain as poetically resonant as in his earlier work. With Ceylan, every picture really does tell a story.

'Climates' screens at the Odeon West End at 6pm on October 23 and will be released on Feb 9.

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