The Edge of Heaven

Saturday 12th April 5:00 PM

Synopsis

This won Akin Best Screenplay at Cannes to go with his previous awards, including the Berlin Golden Bear for Head-On (2004). Like the earlier film, the movie shifts between Germany and Turkey, but with far greater complexity as it focuses initially on the lives of father and son, first- and second-generation Turkish immigrants: the father a charming scoundrel, the son a respected professor. Then it daringly leaps to the life of Ayten, a Turkish left-wing activist who escapes to Germany in search of her mother, whom she believes is working in a shoe-shop; actually, a prostitute. The interwoven narratives create rich layers of (justified) coincidence – compared by some to Babel.

Thanks to Artificial Eye

Critics

“This is a movie rooted in reality that attains great moral and spiritual power...It's wonderfully acted, deeply moving and curiously illuminating.”

Philip French, The Observer