Ah, Belinda

Aaahh Belinda (2023) is a Turkish movie directed by Deniz Yorulmazer.

It stars Neslihan Atagül as Dilara/Handan. The fact that she has two names is the key to the plot. Dilara is a supermodel, who is shooting a commercial for the shampoo Belinda. The shampoo company wants to attract buyers by not just having a model who is taking a shower, but by putting her into an imaginary family. Suddenly, Dilara realizes that she is living in the world of Handan, the name of the wife of the imaginary family.

The problem is that it is, indeed, a real family. Dilara knows that it's not, but no one--including her husband--will believe her.

Neslihan Atagül is, of course, very beautiful. Her role requires her to be beautiful--she's a supermodel. She's also a good actor. The plot has been done before, but it's still enjoyable to see how it will play out.

Aaahh Belinda has a terrible IMDb rating of 5.3. It's not that bad. In fact, I liked it and rated it 8.

It's a good movie, but not a must-watch. The plot line and structure of this movie were good. However, it definitely could have been better. Firstly, the characters and their personalities were a good match and gave you a sense of their life, not to mention how they are presented to us, to understand their role and demeanor through the movie. I didn't have an issue with the characters. I think they represented traditional hotshot actors, ''cultured'' film producers, Turkish mothers-in-law, and family dynamics. It added to the story. Secondly, the plot was something that had unique aspects to it. It was different. Pretty good story layout and is easy to follow. Thirdly I want to address the dialogues. I liked how the characters interacted with each other. As I said, it gives off different energies for the characters. I liked how each character had specific features in their dialogues such as tones, facial and body language, etc. Now, I want to state why this could have been a better movie. I think the producers forgot they needed to tie this movie to an end and just tried to create something as quickly as possible. It feels like this movie is intended to be longer. The storyline and plot were going somewhat well. However, we are faced with the end. I didn't like it because apart from being sudden it also doesn't explain anything. I know what you're thinking. ''there's a deeper meaning'', ''It symbolizes something'', ''You have to think about it''... No. The movie wasn't thought out. The ending was simply a quick cut and left the viewers with a bored look and the producers hoping for at least a 5-star rating. The bottom line is this. This movie had good potential, but unfortunately, it did not meet it. There were unnecessary details that I think stole from the time that should've been used for the ending. It feels like the writers had little time to create this movie and didn't plan it through. Also, in the movie, they use the term ''metaverse'', which is not the right term. That was a very bad mistake. It should have been something about alternate realities. Maybe quote Stephen Hawking or use a pop culture reference (Marvel Universe) but ''metaverse'' was a horrible mistake and the film slowly but steadily got worse from that point on. Watch it if you like, but you won't see this film in a top film list.

This remake is a total dissappoinment and fiasco. Really sloppy scenario and dialogs (I could not stand one more "f..k off" curse from the leading actress). The original was much more better in art direction (come on ...chandelier in 2020's ...only maybe in the tv shows and retro wannabe shops) and building the middle class life realities of 80's Turkey. This is like a clumsy parody of the original one, which was like nightmare of an independent woman who runaway from nuclear familys' bondings but this one is almost like a circus. Mujde Ar plays more real and insist staying neurotic as being a dissociative patient but the new actress is acting ameteurishly hysterical and psychotic. So I recommend everyone to watch the original movie in order to understand what the film was supposed to criticize such as consumer culture, moral dilemmas and societal changings of that era. In sum this adaptation missed two essentials of the original version: being critical and funny which are the spirit of the original movie.

From beginning to the end this movie makes you curious about what's going to happen next!

I really enjoyed it strongly recommend it.

Acting was really good , and surprised me actually!

Normally I don't watch Neslihan Atagul tv shows and I was a bit judgemental before starting to this movie , but she's proven me wrong . Very good acting!

I loved watching her housewife life .. her relationship with the husband was funny to watch .

The movie starts like a comedy and then turns into thriller movie , at least you feel like that.

Neslihan Atagül Dogulu really nails the tone of the movie in her high-strung performance.

The case cohesion in this film was well done, and the storyline was quite eccentric. The main character, Dilara, is a prominent movie and theatre star in Turkiye, and her boyfriend and co-star, Serkan, is a sleazy drug-abuser. Adding to the mix is a secondary actress who is jealous of Dilara. In the film, Dilara is cast in a shampoo commercial playing the role of Handan, a banker with a distasteful older husband and two children. Dilara dislikes this role, which leads to numerous retakes during filming. However, during one of the shampoo commercial scenes, she finds herself mysteriously transported into Handan's life stuck with husband Necat - a world away from being an actress. She begins conspiring to find a way back to her own life as Dilara.

While the chemistry between Serkan and Dilara was well portrayed, and their relationship as self-centered people was solid, the execution of the film's ending was poor. There was no resolution to the storyline involving Handan's affair or her fraud, nor was there any conclusion to the money being thrown from the roof. Additionally, there was no resolution to Handan's daughter's apparent understanding that Dilara was not her real mother and asking when her mother would return. The film's ending was abrupt, with Dilara returning to the shampoo commercial and realising that her experience as Handan was real when she noticed a burn on her arm.

The type of meta-humour or "out of body experience" humour in the film was concluded lazily by the writers, and even for a movie based on metafiction, it needed a stronger conclusion. However, Neslihan Atagul's performance was, as always, incredible. Although, it could be argued that her character could have benefited from a stronger comedic angle, rather than solely relying on emotional, confused, and snarky moments for a lighter overall finish.