Hayatboyu - Lifelong

Lifelong

Nisantasi is a classy Istanbul residential district. Its inhabitants may be rich and beautiful but they are not necessarily happy. This is the case for 52-year-old architect Can and his wife Ela, an artist who is already past her creative prime. Their daughter Nil has left home to study in Ankara. Left to their own devices, the couple realise that their passion for each other is not what it once was. Nonetheless they both feel secure in the safe harbour of a marriage which places no demands for critical questions or complex explanations. One day, Ela happens to overhear her husband talking on the phone.

Director Aslı Özge sketches the story of a lost love, filmed in desaturated colours and fashionably cool interiors which emphasise the emptiness that lies hidden beneath the surface. Caught in a thick web of lies, alienation and loneliness, the film’s protagonists appear to have made that typical middle-class mistake of sacrificing their personal lives on the altar of their careers.

Source: 63. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)