Three Monkeys

I came to Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “Three Monkeys” (Üç Maymun) with high expectations since his prior films—“Clouds of May”, “Distant” and “Climates”—moved me despite their use of an Antonioni-like “alienation” effect calculated to keep the audience at arm’s length. Whatever his movies lacked in terms of plot, character development and dialog—the customary building blocks of all drama—they made up for through stunning cinematography and acting. The acting, it should be stressed, was not of the classic Laurence Olivier variety, nor was it the method acting of a Marlon Brando. It was instead mostly acting geared to facial expressions and physical gestures, harking back in a way to the era of silent film.

“Clouds of May”, “Distant” and “Climates” succeeded to a degree because the main characters were alienated middle-class intellectuals whose reticence was consistent with their tightly reserved personalities. But a lack of verbal communication between the major characters did not prevent them from engaging in powerful dramatic confrontations involving sex or violence—in some cases at the same time.

In “Three Monkeys”, Ceylan shifts gears and makes ordinary people the principal characters. Additionally, as opposed to the relatively plotless movies that preceded it, this one has a classic plot lifted from noir conventions: adultery. Once we get a sense of where the plot is going, we expect fireworks along the line of “Blood Simple” or “The Postman Always Rings Twice”. However, there is no climax involving a cathartic revenge. Instead, the movie just peters out with the main characters glowering at each other. The Nation Magazine’s Stuart Klawans, who is quite smitten with the movie, puts it this way:

But as Ceylan knows, the decisive acts in our lives are often the ones we don’t carry out: the brushoff that Hacer doesn’t give Servet, the insistent cellphone call that she doesn’t answer, the prison visit that Ismail doesn’t make, the familial violation that he doesn’t confront. To an astonishing degree, Three Monkeys is made up of such non-occurrences, which Ceylan has a freakish talent for converting into endlessly sustained moments of intense drama.

The movie begins with Kemalist politician Servet (Ercan Kesal) falling asleep at the wheel late at night and striking and killing a female pedestrian. Since an arrest would destroy his career, he asks Eyüp (Yavuz Bingöl), his day-time chauffeur, to take the rap for him. His wife would continue to receive his salary when he is in prison and there would be a handsome lump sum when he gets out. Eyüp agrees to the deal and goes off to prison. Naïve leftist that I am, I had high hopes that the class distinctions between Servet and Eyüp would be explored by the director, who also wrote the screenplay. Those hopes were dashed as not a single scene between the two characters took place subsequently, except for one at the end when Eyüp refuses to confront the politician who had cuckolded him.

Not long after Eyüp begins serving his 9 month sentence, his wife Hacer (Hatice Aslan) visits Servet’s office to try to get an advance payment on what her husband is due. She has been pressured by Ismail (Ahmet Rifat Sungar), her loutish and taciturn son, to get money so that he can buy a car. After failing repeatedly to pass the college entrance exam, the car will be a means to a job.

Soon after Hacer’s meeting with Servet, the two begin an affair that is never depicted on screen. This is one of those “non-occurrences” that Stuart Klawans finds so engaging. As a hidebound reactionary when it comes to film, I had foolish expectations that their relationship might have been explored. Instead, we only see the two of them one more time together at the edge of a cliff overlooking the Bosporus. The politician has tired of her and insists that she stop bothering him. Her response is to cling to his knees and beg for his love, like Glenn Close and Michael Douglas in “Fatal Instinct”. Since Servet is a rather ordinary-looking man and since we have no idea what sort of non-physical attractions he might hold for a much more comely Hacer, her obsession is something of a mystery.

Without giving away too much of the plot, suffice it to say that Servet ends up dead. The police launch an investigation with Eyüp and Hacer as primary suspects. Those looking for a suspenseful policier should of course look elsewhere. Police interrogations, with all their words, are far less interesting to Ceylan than the furrowed brows of his principals.

Generally, I only write about movies if they are either very good or very bad. In the first instance, I hope to alert people to the sort of movie that can’t afford a full page ad in the N.Y. Times. In the second, my goal is to warn people away from the cinematic equivalent of spoiled meat, “Rescue Dawn” being the latest instance.

“Three Monkeys” is neither very good nor very bad. For those who enjoy good cinematography, the movie will probably be worth the $11 ticket. It is showing at Lincoln Plaza and Cinema Village in New York.

I was able to watch it to the conclusion, which I suppose is damning with faint praise. Since I have been a big fan of Ceylan’s work in the past, I hoped for more—much more. The movie simply reminds me that there is no escape from the traditional palette of film drama. Without plot, character development and dialog, you are left with pretty pictures. It might taste good but you still feel hungry after the meal is done.