Winter Sleep (film)

According to Metacritic, which collected 27 reviews and calculated an average score of 88 out of 100, the film received "universal acclaim".[12] Rotten Tomatoes, another aggregator, reports that 87% of 83 reviews are positive, and the average rating is 8.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Epic in length, thrilling to behold, and utterly absorbing, Winter Sleep demands – and rewards – viewers' patient attention".[13]

Writing for The Guardian at the film's Cannes screening, Xan Brooks said that "in fits and starts, this is a stunning picture. At its best, Winter Sleep shows Ceylan to be as psychologically rigorous, in his way, as Ingmar Bergman before him".[14] Robbie Collin of The Telegraph said that the film is "still fiendishly intelligent stuff from the director, nudging back the limits of what we expect of cinema and also what it expects of us: a mighty tale of what becomes of a man when his heart goes into hibernation".[15]

IndieWire praised the film and defined it as a "mesmerizing, superbly acted portrait of a wealthy, self-involved landowner and the various figures impacted by his reign"[16] while The Telegraph called it a "bold, beautiful - and very long - film about a failing marriage"[17] The Guardian also gave the film a glowing review describing it as a harsh "character study" and a "stunning picture" while praising Haluk Bilginer's "magnificent performance".[18] Another positive review came from Variety. Film critic Justin Chang called the film a "richly engrossing experience" and asserted that Nuri Bilge Ceylan is at his "peak" with Winter Sleep.[19] Another critic, Ben Kenigsberg, noting Winter Sleep was the longest film in the Cannes film competition, pointed out that the film was an awards favorite from the get-go. He also found "the movie's slow revelation of character detail quietly devastating".[20]

More positive reviews followed. Huffington Post reviewer Karin Badt called the film a "masterpiece" and noted that there is "movement and growth and self-realization" in the characters and none of them are "black-and-white". Also, the ending of the film was defined as "ambiguous" leaving parts of the movie to the interpretation of the viewer.[21] Way Too Indie awarded the film 9.7 points out of 10, commenting: "What Bela Tarr did with images, Nuri Bilge Ceylan accomplishes with dialogue; one hundred percent inclusive assimilation. You literally get lost inside this world that seems to balance on the periphery of humanity itself. But, believe it or not, that’s just the surface. If you put your trust in Ceylan and his troupe of brilliant actors, every action will reveal deeper meanings, every frame will contain significant details, and you will leave the theater completely nourished".[22] TIME Magazine remarked that it was no surprise that Winter Sleep won the award and noted: "Winter Sleep probes the psychology of a Turkish landowner confronting crises from his young wife, his sister and his aggrieved tenants".[23] Irish Times called the film "terrific" and commented: "So leisurely is Winter Sleep, it makes Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, his last film, feel like an episode of The A-Team".[24] Cine Vue noted that while Ceylan's previous film Once upon a Time in Anatolia might have been inspired by Dostoevsky, Winter Sleep took its inspiration from Chekhov. The reviewer added: "The pacing of Ceylan's latest will inevitably be a hurdle for many viewers, as a slow-burn beginning with numerous scenes of dialogue played out in full gets even more unhurried in a pair of marathon confrontations".[25]

According to reviewer Robbie Collin,[26] Aydın sees himself as the region's kind ruler, intervening in the business of the townspeople below the mountain, whereas in reality, almost everyone, including his wife, dislikes Aydın.

When the snow season approaches and the guests depart, the tension between Aydın, his wife, his sister who lives with him, and the village people takes over by long dialogues. Conversations dominate the film as the inner workings of the characters are slowly revealed. Variety reviewer Justin Chang[27] notes that the argument between Hidayet and İsmail in the beginning of the film all happens "while Aydın keeps a timid distance [and this is] just a minor example of his complacency and casual indifference to the suffering around him".

Collin[26] wrote:

It turns out that most people have at least one very good reason to dislike Aydin: even his wife, whose charity fundraising efforts he dismisses laughingly, criticising the state of her bookkeeping like a teacher ticking off a particularly slow pupil.

Only one man, the obsequious imam, makes a concerted effort to get along with him, although Aydin is annoyed by his flattering talk and insincere, teeth-baring grins, and obliquely insults him in his newspaper column.

Aydın's comfort is, however, "challenged by the conversations that ensue between him and the poor family, his wife and his sister on topics ranging from civic responsibility to evil".[27][28]

The film won the Palme d'Or at the 67th Cannes Film Festival.[29] The longest film in competition by far, Winter Sleep's Palme d'Or marked the culmination of the career of Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who has twice received the festival's second-place honor, the Grand Prix (for 2002's Uzak and for 2011's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) and who won a directing prize for 2008's Three Monkeys.[30][31] Nuri Bilge Ceylan also won the award for Achievement in Directing for the film at the 2014 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Ceylan said in his acceptance speech that it was "a great surprise" when he took the stage, noting that it was perhaps a fitting choice in a year that marked the 100th anniversary of Turkish cinema. Tacitly acknowledging the 2013–14 protests in Turkey that led to the deaths of 11 people, the director said, "I want to dedicate the prize to all the young people of Turkey, including those who lost their lives". He also mentioned the workers who were killed in the Soma mine disaster, which occurred on the day prior to the commencement of the awards event.[31][32][33][34] Although it divided critics and audiences with its reams of dialogue and challenging 196-minute running time, the film became an early critics’ favorite and Palme d'Or contender when it screened on the festival's third day.[31] The film was selected as the Turkish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.[35]