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Love really does require a different language
The thing about “Love in Another Language” is that it’s one of those rare Turkish films that has the potential of becoming a national box-office hit even though it’s not an empty, consumption-driven spectacle.
Make no mistake, this is not an “auteur art film” despite its independent production means; the story is pure cliché and borders the realm of a TV movie. Yet the genuineness and the simplicity of this bittersweet romance touch the heart without resorting to simple explanations and grandiose ideas of how “unattainability” of true love. If the film has got one thing right, it’s that no matter what the situation, love takes hard work and effort, and perhaps that’s the beauty of it.
On the surface, some might find that the film carries undeniable similarities to Çağan Irmak’s “Issız Adam” (Alone) -- in which two modern urbanites with hefty emotional baggage roam through the uptown streets and their nicely decorated apartments -- yet the difference here is that the male part of the equation tries to overcome the self-pity. Thank God.
Zeynep (elf-like Saadet Işıl Aksoy) and Onur (Mert Fırat, who is also the co-writer of the film with Başarır) meet at a friend’s engagement party. Zeynep doesn’t first realize that Onur is deaf, but once she does, his silence doesn’t become an obstacle for her; on the contrary, working all day at a call center talking nonstop to angry customers, she initially embraces Onur’s predicament. They have a one-night stand at his apartment; she runs off towards the morning, but then she can’t forget him and returns to his arms the next day.
Onur is a different case; his father abandoned him and his mother at an early age, presumably because he couldn’t handle Onur’s situation. Though a trained graphic illustrator, Onur works at a university library, where silence overtakes all.
Both Zeynep and Onur have issues. Zeynep can’t take the working conditions at the call center any longer, and Onur is too afraid to learn to speak. Zeynep’s friends and Onur’s mother (the beautiful Lale Mansur) believe that their relationship won’t work. A funny thing happens: They strive to become a functioning couple. She starts learning sign language, he starts to learn to speak, she tries to find him jobs as a Web designer and he helps her organize a protest against her employers. Of course there are problems: He’s got a terrible temper, and she can’t always understand the psychology of being deaf. And then there are the expected misunderstandings. When Zeynep is having an argument with her ex-boyfriend, Onur assumes it’s a random guy who’s trying to hurt her and he lunges at him, causing an unnecessary fight. Nothing is easy in this relationship, but isn’t it all about goodwill and effort?
The main faux pas of the film is that at times it loses its main focus and tries to make social statements; the difficult working conditions of call center employees take on an unnecessary weight in the film, and the indirect social messages of acknowledging the predicament of deaf people have a tendency to become a tad didactic. Furthermore, a side-story concerning Onur’s downstairs agoraphobic neighbor could have been much more intertwined into the main story regarding its theme of “fear,” but becomes pointless due to its limited screen time.
But despite its shortcomings, the film works through the performance of its ensemble cast, its heartfelt story and its realistic dialogue. It’s more than obvious that the whole cast and crew has given 100 percent to a project that they believe in.
The film’s strongest point is that it doesn’t establish Onur’s deafness as the center of the relationship; one knows that even if he weren’t deaf the couple would have different problems, and as such, anyone who has been through an intense yet difficult relationship can identify with the characters. “Love in Another Language” is a promising debut for Başarır, a director to watch out for.
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