The Edge of Heaven

CinemaSerf

This is quite a powerful full-circle drama that starts with a young but uninspired college professor “Nejat” (Baki Davrak) who disapproves of his widowed father (Tuncel Kurtis) inviting his prostitute friend to be his live-in lover. “Yeter” (Nursel Köse) isn’t just on the game for drugs and her pimp, she is determined that her daughter back home in Turkey will get the education she was denied and so have better prospects. “Nejat” respects that and soon the pair are getting along better - to the chagrin of the father whose erratic behaviour causes a tragic occurrence that sees him incarcerated and estranged from his son. Concerned for her well-being, “Nejat” now travels to Turkey to try to track down “Ayten” (Nurgül Yesilçay), a young woman whom we know has already befriended “Lotte” (Patrycia Ziolkowska) in Germany. “Ayten” isn’t legal and she is deported, but to a Turkey that considers her a member of a banned organisation and so, now she is imprisoned, “Lotte” sets off after her - despite the protestations of her mother “Susanne” (Hanna Schygulla). Guess whom “Lotte” ends up sharing an apartment with? Yep, told you it was cyclical. What’s more engaging here is that though each story is connected, there is a surprising lack of the contrived as the stories seamlessly morph from the light-hearted to the more serious and switch from nation to nation. It illustrates cultural, sexual and political distinctions without ramming them down our throats and though perhaps it does linger longer on the “Lotte” and “Ayten” story than I felt it needed, it’s an at times poignant look at what really matters in life.