Time to Love

This is the best Turkish film I have ever seen even though it was filmed in 1965. The film stories a man who fell in love with a picture of a woman. The man represents eastern understanding of love which desires not to be with his lover. Because he is afraid if the lover is different than his dreams and his love itself gives a great pleasure to him, not the lover, this pleasure makes him a lover. Our female character Meral is a typical western woman with her relationship with her friends musical preferences etc... Love of this two characters lets us to analyze both of the cultures. Beautiful view of 1960's Istanbul makes you feel the heavenly atmosphere.

'Time to Love' is one of the best films of its time, not only in Turkey, but also in the world. Of course, in addition to director and screenwriter Metin Erksan and his staff, Musfik Kenter and Sema Ozcan, cinematographer Mengu Yegin also had a large share in it.

This is one of those movies that i am not just glad i found and watched it but even happy. I thought that it was going to be something like a copy of LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD and other similar arthouse drama/mystery/romance movies, for instance movies of Alain Robbe-Grillet. I was wrong. Whereas i still believe MARIENBAD is a better movie, TIME TO LOVE is absolutely unique and has its own identity. This is an original movie, obviously a work of passion which any romantic person will like it, at least. An incredibly affected and emotional movie, more like a fairy tale of course. Or more like a poem than a realistic movie. The characters are more symbols than people with flesh and blood, although at the same time, they express real feelings, facing real life difficulties and having real reactions towards another or other people.

Stylistically, it's gorgeous. Actually, this is one of the most beautiful movies i have ever watched. There will be a lot of people who won't like this movie for various reasons and i get it, but its beauty, in terms of film making, is undeniable. But this is not just a STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE movie. When the protagonist says that he loves her photograph and not her, in the beginning of the movie, it's obvious what he means. There is no ambiguity here and pretentiousness, everything is clear.

Regarding of the actors, i think the leading couple was great. I was rooting hard for them, they were loveable as characters too.

I was going to rate it even higher but i didn't like the last minute. The rest of the final 5 minutes is pure magic. It was heading towards one of the most powerful endings in the history of drama/romance movies, if not the most powerful. But still, it was not one of the endings which ruin a movie. It remains amazing.

Erksan's Sevmek Zamani expresses its story in a two-folded plane.First, a strict realism in the search for specific (but global at the same time) identity problem of Turkish people is investigated: Occident or Orient, the chaotic battle of these two different identity-construction choices. Second, through this separation, the movie shows us two perceptions of LOVE: An urbanized, modern female singer(Sema Ozcan) wanting to be with the guy (Musfik Kenter)who is in love with her poster on the one hand. On the other, the (Oriental) guy refusing this famous singer. The guy says:"I'm in love only and only with your poster". The fetish and the sublime! That Love turns to be some kind of Sufistic way of perceiving the world. The Magnificient scene of boat-tripping with the poster must be seen!

It looks like a Mexican soap opera, absurd plot from beginning to end, ridiculous dialogues, very bad sound effects, one wonders, and where is the director? Or maybe it was the time and what was done in Turkey, the villain is very bad, the good one is poor, fetishist and stupid. At least the woman does not follow a submissive role, but she does lose love, like a good soap opera. The music tires. The scene of the father-in-law and the son-in-law is pathetic, only the photography stands out, it is very contemplative and tired, a predictable ending, it could be a short film of 20 minutes maximum, it is to be seen in 2x if possible or avoid it completely.