Ara (2008)

Directed by

Ümit Ünal

Genre

drama film

Country

Turkey

Runtime

1h 29m

Rating

5.8 of 10 from 8 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Two middle class couples in Istanbul have secret affairs with each other's partners over a decade. The film watches them change through their romantic and business relationships against the backdrop of Turkey's shifting society.

intimatemelancholiccontemplativetenseurbanevolvingclaustrophobicbittersweet

What happens

Ara is a 2008 Turkish drama film directed by Ümit Ünal, starring Erdem Akakçe, Betül Çobanoğlu, Serhat Tutumluer, and Selen Uçer, all originally stage actors. The film's plot spans a decade and evolves around the relations of two middle class, urban couples, Veli and Selda, Veli's business partner Ender and Gül. Selda is romantically and sexually involved with Ender, while Gül and Veli are also in an extramarital relationship. The film examines Turkey's financial and cultural turmoils of the past 20 years through these four middle-class people who search for their own places and stances in society, and through their romantic, friendly and treacherous relations. The film is set in a single apartment, however, because the plot spans a decade, and the apartment is used as a set for music videos, commercials or TV serials, those images seep into the film's imagery while the decoration of the house continuously changes throughout. The film was shot completely digitally in an 80 square meter (861 square feet) flat at the Kuledibi neighbourhood in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. The film's title "Ara" means "between", "space", "distance" in Turkish, and it is a reference to the main characters' "in between-ness" in society and their own relationships. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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