 |
| image courtesy of variety.com |
In a quiet Turkish village by the sea, five free-spirited orphaned sisters are jailed inside their house. Their sin? They are women. Carefree, blossoming young women. Too buoyant, too feminine, and too sexually aware to enjoy freedom. And punished for that one spontaneous game at the beach with male classmates, which seared in them a reputation for being wantons.
Deniz Gamze Ergüven's critically acclaimed debut film, which screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, explores a deeply conservative and oppressive patriarchal society, which reduces women's role as nothing more than a highly trained maid for her future husband. Told through the eyes of the youngest sister, Lale (Günes Sensoy), we watch how the siblings are tamed like mustangs by their genuinely concerned grandma (Nihal G. Koldas) and severe uncle (Ayberk Pekcan).
 |
| Image courtesy of nziff.co.nz |
Ergüven's confident direction, the film's intimate and gorgeous camerawork, and the very natural performances of the female cast, evoke a strong sense of sisterhood. The sisters are wild horses; long untamed tresses, long-limbed and limber, and they are fairly mesmerizing to watch.
Here's the slight problem: because we see the sisters as one unit, a bunch of giggly girls with no distinct personalities and with only "fun" in mind, it's difficult to wholly sympathize with them. They are essentially kids, restless and dreaming of boyfriends, and lacking a deeper, more substantial reason to escape a cruel culture. Although you feel the girls' anger and panic as they are married off one by one, you don't really feel the airlessness and claustrophobia of imprisonment because they act more bored than oppressed.
But overall, Mustang, France's entry to the 2016 Oscars, is an interesting, engaging film, and the lead child star, Sensoy, delivers a captivating performance. Although the film is highly overrated, you gotta give credit to Ergüven's deft filmmaking skills. Her dainty, delicate style delivers a quiet and visually memorable female empowerment film.
Comments