Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

Winter Sleep Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 13, 2015

Winner of the prestigious Palme d'Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Winter Sleep" (2014) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors New Wave Films. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film and documentary on the making of the film. In Turkish, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

"Whether it's because I've grown old, or I've gone mad, or because I've become a different man, think what you like."

Deep into the heart of Anatolia former actor Aydin (Haluk Bilgener) runs Hotel Othello. Carved into a giant rock formation overseeing a beautiful valley, the place is frequently visited by foreign tourists. Years ago, even the great Omar Sharif rented a room there while shooting Monsieur Ibrahim.

Though living in rural Anatolia hasn’t always been easy, Aydin loves the land and the people. He realizes that he could have had a different life with his beautiful wife, Nihal (Melisa Sözen), in Istanbul, but is convinced that he would not have been happy. Here, amidst the old rocks, he is happy and feels at home.

Aydin and Nihal rarely talk. Occasionally, they would have tea together, but both prefer to spend their time alone in their rooms. Aydin has started writing articles for a tiny newspaper, while Nihal has been busy collecting donations for a local school.

Aydin’s divorced sister, Necla (Demet Akbağ), has noticed the alienation but has chosen to remain silent. In recent months, she has also started thinking about her failed marriage and her former husband, a drunkard, and whether moving to Aydin’s hotel was the right thing to do.

When an angry boy (Emirhan Doruktutan) throws a rock through Aydin’s car window, however, Aydin, Nihal, and Necla begin a long discussion that cracks the masks they have been wearing in the hotel.

Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s latest film, Winter Sleep, feels like Turkey’s long overdue answer to Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage. It most certainly has an identity of its own, but its depth and intelligence are very much comparable to those of the Swedish director’s masterpiece.

The film is nearly three and a half hours long and is broken into multiple uneven episodes. Ceylan gives the viewer plenty of time to get acquainted not only with the main protagonists but also feel the rhythm of life in the rural area where the hotel is.

The focus of attention is on the intense conversations. The main conflicts are seen through Aydin’s eyes, but different points of view are routinely introduced and analyzed. As the conversations intensify, layers are slowly peeled away in Bergman-esque fashion and massive character transformations initiated.

Patience is required to fully appreciate Ceylan’s vision, but this isn’t a difficult film to endure. The script is absolutely brilliant and the panoramic vistas fantastic. (Some of the stone-carved houses in the historic Cappadocia region have to be seen to be believed).

Bilginer, who looks a lot like the great Serbian actor Rade Šerbedžija, is perfectly cast as the aging businessman who has lost the respect of the most important people in his life without realizing it. Sözen is outstanding as the heartbroken and brittle housewife. Serhat Mustafa Kiliç appears only in a few sequences but leaves a lasting impression as the poor tenant who desperately wants to help his family and remain on good terms with Aydin.

Ceylan shot the film with his regular cinematographer Gökhan Tiryaki on location in Cappadoccia and Uçhisar, Central Anatolia. The two have been working together since Climates.

Winter Sleep Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.38:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Winter Sleep arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors New Wave Films.

Shot with Sony's CineAlta F65 camera, the film looks exceptionally crisp and vibrant. Many of the daylight close-ups essentially look like digital photographs (see screencapture #8). The wider panoramic shots also boast exceptional fluidity and a terrific range of nuanced natural colors (see screencapture #11). During the darker indoor footage light is captured in different ways that could affect shadow definition, but the occasional fluctuations are indeed part of the film's intended visual style. The film is nearly three and a half hours long, but compression is very good. There are a few sequences where some extremely light compression artifacts try to sneak in, but they are virtually impossible to spot (see the coat in screencapture #8). Lastly, there are no stability issues to report in this review. All in all, this is a solid presentation of Winter Sleep that makes it very easy to appreciate the vision of its creator. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Winter Sleep Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Turkish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Turkish LPCM 2.0 (with a few exchanges in English). Optional English subtitles have been provided for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

I viewed the film with the 5.1 track and was very pleased with it, but I tested the 2.0 track and think that it also serves it well. Excluding a few gentle piano themes, the film has a very organic sound design that does not benefit greatly when moved to 5.1. The dialog is exceptionally crisp, very stable, and always easy to follow. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in this review.

Winter Sleep Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Winter Sleep. In Turkish, with imposed English subtitles. (2 min).

• Making of Documentary - an extensive documentary on the making of Winter Sleep with plenty of raw footage from the shooting of the film in Anatolia. In Turkish, with optional English subtitles. (139 min).

Winter Sleep Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Nuri Bilge Ceylan's latest film, Winter Sleep, has the depth and intelligence that make so many of Ingmar Bergman's films worth seeing again and again. It is set in an ancient town in the historic Cappadocia region in Central Anatolia, but it tackles a number of contemporary issues we have all been forced to ponder. At the moment, in Region-B land the film is available on an English-friendly Blu-ray only in the United Kingdom via local distributors New Wave Films. In North America, Mongrel Media have just released the film in Canada (see our listing here). In the United States, Adopt Films and Kino Lorber will bring it to Blu-ray in May (see our listing here). VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.