The Butterfly`s Dream - Kelebeğin Rüyasi

Zonguldak on Turkey`s Black Sea coast in 1941: while a terrible war is raging in Europe that is about to escalate into a world war, two friends Muzaffer (Kivanç Tatlituğ) and Rüştu (Mert Firat) lead a rather idyllic life. The two men, infected with tuberculosis, work in simple civil service and do not have to toil underground in the mines like most of the male farmers in the region. This leaves them enough time and energy to pursue their real passion, writing poetry. But so far their dream of being published in a renowned literary magazine has remained unfulfilled. But against all odds, the two men keep working to fulfill their dream. When they meet Suzan (Belçim Bilgin), the daughter of the rich and powerful Mr. Zikri, Muzaffer in particular is instantly smitten. The two friends make a bet: whoever writes Suzan the most beautiful poem will get to court her heart. But it is not only the fact that Mr. Zikri does not tolerate his daughter spending her time with tuberculosis patients that stands in the way of a possible happy ending. As Rüştu's illness worsens and he is taken to a faraway sanatorium, his career as a poet and playwright also seems to be over forever. But the worst times are yet to come for the friends.

With The Butterfly`s Dream - Kelebeğin Rüyasi, Yilmaz Erdoğan, who also stars in the film as the good-natured mentor of the two main characters, has directed a charming story about friendship and love. Especially in the first half, despite some dramatic moments, Erdoğan refrains from a stifling melancholy, instead focusing on lightness, optimism and sympathetic characters. Embedded in beautiful images and accompanied by tender music, the story unfolds in an almost poetic way. Drama, humor, romance, all of it is presented in a perfectly coordinated dose at the outset. The three main actors are also extremely likeable and quickly manage to establish their characters as genuine sympathizers.

As the second half of the film progresses, so does the amount of drama. True, there are always simply beautiful moments and charming images. But the lightness accompanied by positive feelings, which still sets the tone at the beginning, gives way here more and more to a heavy sadness, which takes over a bit too much especially in the last twenty minutes. These last moments are quite hard stuff, which only partly wants to conform to the mood of the rest of the film.

Dennoch: The Butterfly`s Dream - Kelebeğin Rüyasi is quite great emotional cinema, which not only a Turkish audience, but all viewers who are interested in beautifully filmed, intense dramas and who are not afraid of a little kitsch and a little pathos. Fortunately, both are only used in very small doses, because Yilmaz Erdoğan's production is particularly captivating with its restraint, its quiet moments and its engaging visual language. A beautiful, albeit a little too long film, for which the bottom line is: absolutely worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp