Gülizar
Türkiye, Kosovo/ 2024 / 84’ / DCP / Color / Turkish,
Albanian / English Subtitles
Director: Belkıs Bayrak; Screenplay: Belkıs Bayrak; Director
of Photography: Kürşat Üresin; Art Director: Meral Aktan; Kurgu / Editing:
Selin Eren Şahin; Music: Kanan Rustamli; Sound Desing: Alexandru Dumitru
Cast: Ecem Uzun, Bekir Behrem, Hakan Yufkacıgil, Ernest
Malazogu, Aslı İçözü
Producer: Mehmet Bahadır ER
E-posta / E-mail: bayrakbelkis@gmail.com
After being sexually assaulted, Gulizar's wedding preparations slowly turn into a claustrophobic journey as she fears her attacker will be exposed.
Belkıs Bayrak was born in Turkey in 1984 and received her MA in Film and Television at Istanbul Bilgi University. Her previous short films Apartman / The Apartment (2018) and Cemile (2021) have been shown at several international festivals. Gülizar / Gulizar is her debut film. She is an alumnus of Torino Film Lab, Reclaim The Frame’s Filmonomics Program, and a member of EWA.
REVIEW
Today, a legitimate thought occurred to me. I noticed that each time a film exposing sexual assault against women is released, the severity of the situation becomes clearer and scarier on screen. Every new film introduces a fresh perspective, shedding light on a crucial aspect of understanding the victims. Undoubtedly, Belkis Bayrak’s Gülizar expands our comprehension of the issue at hand and stresses the significance of being socially conscious.
Gülizar’s big day is around the corner, and she’s about to get married. It’s perhaps a wish shared by many girls—hoping for a fresh start, a potential transformation, or a change in their choices. Gülizar, a broad-minded woman who is well aware of her choices and preferences, has a deeper connection to the concept of marriage than the actual wedding process. Despite having all the standard necessities in her countryside home, Gülizar maintains a non-harmonious lifestyle, particularly with her mother, who exercises authoritative influence over her. It doesn’t seem excessive, but it also doesn’t appear to be a joyful connection. Nevertheless, she has a loving sister, and for Gülizar, these have become a cycle she is quite accustomed to. During her trip to Kosovo for marriage procedures, Gülizar embarks on a bus ride with her mother, only to discover that her mother’s passport has expired. Her quick decision to go to her destination alone upsets her mother, but she gradually allows her to leave. During a brief bathroom break, Gülizar faces the worst possible situation that a woman should never go through—a stranger sexually assaults her, but she manages to flee without seeking attention. Her plight has just begun.
Belkis Bayrak’s full-on character study is a work of art, following in the footsteps of directors Asghar Farhadi and Ali Asgari to a certain extent. The various degrees of silence lend a distinctive interpretation to each onscreen scenario, with the essential ingredient being Ecem Uzun’s riveting performance. We witness Gülizar’s fear gradually blossoming into anxiety, where her silence adds to her persistence in storing her trauma in a catharsis vault that is analogous to a looming threat. The screenplay places us in the shoes of every assault victim, providing an overview of the challenges she faces and guiding us to understand the true nature of her inner pain. Her “I’m not ready” may just be a three-word sentence, yet it captures her complete immobility due to the weight of her burden. Further, the director bridges the character study by exploring Gülizar’s perspective, summarizing the impact of perceptions on a woman facing emotional turmoil. The film flawlessly executes this segment, highlighting the ineffectiveness of supportive advice in situations where actions contradict it; whether it’s Gülizar’s mother-in-law, who welcomed her with open arms but has a different opinion on her behavior, or Emre (Bekir Behrem), who wants to help her deal with her issues but exerts control over her personal wishes to forget the trauma. There’s a claustrophobic algorithm that heavily manages to pull within Gülizar’s decision space, pushing her towards the edge and elevating her fear instantly, while also underlining the critical importance of providing victims of abuse and violence with time and space.
As the camera zooms in on Gülizar’s facial expressions for a legal photo shoot, the inner turbulence leaks out of her face with eternal truth. Belkis Bayrak’s Gülizar is gripping, compelling, and subtly exhilarating as it threads through every conceivable facet of a woman’s perseverance. As her wedding day approaches with preparations and unwanted perceptions, the structure of a safe and full-hearted marriage begins to crack and fall apart gradually. Yet, the girl who walks around the corn maze knows the right time to spark her inner fire with a quick swipe of a stick.
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