Essential Cinema: Films of the Middle East and Beyond
Information from the AFS web site:
THREE MONKEYS tells a twisty, noirish tale that opens with an ambitious politician fleeing a hit-and-run accident. Afraid of hurting his election chances, he pays off his chauffeur Eyüp to take the rap. More from the AFS web site:
Written by Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, and Ercan Kesal
Cinematography by Gokhan Tiryaki
Turkey, 2008, distributed by Zeitgeist Films, 35mm, color, 2.35:1, 109 min.
“Winner
of the Best Director prize at Cannes, THREE MONKEYS tells a twisty,
noirish tale that opens with an ambitious politician fleeing a
hit-and-run accident. Afraid of hurting his election chances, he pays
off his chauffeur Eyüp to take the rap. The film concerns the effects
of this devil’s bargain on Eyüp’s family as simmering tensions and
sexual intrigue wreak havoc in a household already haunted by hidden
ghosts. In the spirit of Buñuel’s THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE
and Haneke’s CACHE, THREE MONKEYS mounts a caustic critique of the
bourgeois family, riddled with hypocrisy, yet stubbornly resilient in
its seemingly boundless capacity to sidestep guilt and accountability.”
– Zeitgeist Films