Overview
- RogerEbert.com praises the film’s steadiness and psychological intensity as it probes generational masculine violence, emasculation, and otherness.
- The story centers on Ali, a Turkish translation professor whose infertility and his mother’s suspicious death trigger a morally fraught, dreamlike unraveling.
- Ekin Koç and Erkan Kolçak Köstendil are singled out for committed performances that play into the film’s motif of doubleness, with Hazar Ergüçlü and Ercan Kesal in support.
- Khatami and cinematographer Bartosz Swiniarski shape the mood with long static takes, slow push-ins, and rack focuses that destabilize time and identity.
- Critics note occasional over-literal symbolism that trims the film’s ambiguity, yet overall craftsmanship and control earn strong commendation.