Tereddüt Çizgisi

I was fortunate to catch it at the Perth Revelation Film Festival in Australia today, and I absolutely loved it. Its exploration of justice and empathy reminded me of the feelings I had while reading Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. My only criticism is that there could be a stronger tone of language to better connect the audience with the characters in certain scenes, such as when she entered the kiraathane (café) and had that walk with the hoca. I enjoy these kinds of everyday yet profound conversations, which are very unique in Turkish and Persian cinema. Additionally, the conversation between the sisters was quite weak and lacked emotion.

Canan seems at the end of her tether: her mother's brain death has been declared yet she is in the state of coma, therefore a decision to end her life and donate her organs must be made soon. However, Canan is the last to give up and lose hope: she is a sharp and successful lawyer. Her current case is another reason of her stress. Her car can't be fixed and there is a storm bearing over their town in Türkiye. But whatever happens, she remains professional (will that continue until the end of the film?), calm and collected (is that possible at all?) and reasonable (she'll never let her stomach ulcer become cancer, or will she?).

The film is a mixture of a detective story, a court film and a drama, and it leaves you with more questions than answers, as a good film should. I thought and talked about it for quite a while after it finished and it intrigues me how other people who watched it might understand its message.

Amazing acting by Tülin Özen! One of the best performances I've seen this year.