Two weeks ago, French Premiere previewed potential Cannes titles, basically rehashing the recent Le Film Français article.
It had been mentioned that Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “On Barren Weeds” was possibly four hours long. I’m hearing it’s actually 197 minutes (for now).
The film was accepted, many months ago, by Thierry Fremaux for next May’s edition on the Croisette. Ceylan will be gunning for his second Palme d’Or in May.
The Turkish filmmaker, a world-class auteur, who has become a staple of the Festival with his 2014 Palme winner “Winter Sleep,” and other prized greats such as the masterful “Once Upon A Time in Anatolia” and “Distant,” will be returning with this mysterious new film.
The film stars Deniz Celiloğlu, Merve Dizdar, and Musab Ekici. We now have an official synopsis:
“Following Samet, a young teacher, who is finishing his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia, while hoping to be assigned to Istanbul. When he and his colleague Kenan are accused of harassment by two female students, he loses all hope of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in. But his meeting with Nuray, herself a teacher, may help him overcome his angst.“
This sounds like Ceylan tackling #MeToo. I’m intrigued. Of course, when it comes to the Turkish auteur, nothing is obvious and almost everything is left up for debate. His films are also lengthy in runtime, so I would expect another statement that runs closer to 3 hours.