The film juxtaposes two classes : the man is poor, the woman lives in an upper-class (as far as I can understand the French subtitles of the original dialogues), and never had to work, as told by her own father.
We also have two different approaches to emotions and their expression : Halil is afraid of expressing any emotion, he's afraid of commitment and of having his heart broken, so he insists that all he loves is the photograph and insists that he could never give anything else. He's taciturn, and a man of few words.
Meral, on the other hand, had never imagined what love could be. She didn't anticipate to develop any feelings towards anyone, but she starts changing when she realizes the passion with which Halil loves her image, and demands to share the feelings, because her image is only a reflection of herself, and therefore should be the one to be loved and to love Halil in return. She makes her feelings, emotions and wishes clear, and yet doesn't impose herself ; she pursues, but doesn't force him.
Halil tends to retreat, but Meral confronts things - even when she and her friends first return home and hear that there is someone, they're afraid, and she takes it upon herself to go and check.
The complication arises as another man pursues Meral, confronted to his ardent, insistent advances, whose aggressiveness only grows as the movie progresses, and thus propels the plot in a series of vignettes to show the passage of time - and here we see the clear intentions of the director and writer who gets the story framed with other people and their interaction with the main protagonists, and also the different landscapes and viewpoints.
For example, there are scenes with one or several of the character's inner prisons reflected by the camera angle showing them behind tree branches, but at other times, when some of the emotions can flow better, we see them with the clear view of the scenery behind and around.
There are a couple intense scuffles/ fights, that are rather well done : they have tension, are a bit clumsy, but the camera doesn't focus on the wounds - it's more about the human drama of jealousy and that of aggression VS self defense.
I find the filming interestingly telling on the social norms depicted. Whenever women talk with one another (almost limited to the starting scenes), or when men talk with one another, they are more face-to-face, whereas discussions between men and women are generally shown with a certain distance, one character positioned on a side and looking away from the other.
Acting seems believable to me ; I can't really attest as to the dialogues, only to the subtitles, in French : they did leave me somewhat confused at times as to the true meaning of what being said, so I'll probably have to give it a second watching, to get more of the details. What I can say is that in general, dialogues are minimal, music is sporadic, and there are so many dramatic moments where only ambient sounds are heard, the rest is told by the facial expression, and the framing.
Characterization is well done for this film and I especially liked Halil's friend and coworker, who dispenses wise words, but also reproaches Halil for the way he acts and treats Meral. He's a voice of reason.
The ending sequence is superbly filmed, all with no dialogue whatsoever, and yet tells SO MUCH in each action taken by the characters, but I won't tell you what they convey, as that'd be telling and spoiling. I highly recommend that if you can get Mubi wherever you are, or another platform, dvd or whatnot, check this film - it certainly gave food for thought and I ended up with a much longer review than I'd anticipated!
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