Lesbians at core of excellent ‘Edge’

By Gary M. Kramer
PGN Contributor
© Philadelphia Gay News

A lesbian relationship is at the core of Fatih Akin’s superlative drama, “The Edge of Heaven,” but these central characters are not introduced until the film’s second act. This absorbing story of six Germans and Turks — two mothers and daughters and a father and his son — unfolds not only as a triptych, but also in the form of a Möbius strip. Even if the connections are not immediately clear, the plots interlock and overlap as the themes and characters mirror one another. The effect, in the end, is extraordinarily powerful.

Akin is tackling heavy issues of immigration and alienation here, but he uses coincidence and fate to make his points. He carefully orchestrates his film so the two young female lovers who meet by chance end up having a profound impact on each other’s lives. Likewise, when a daughter searches for her mother, they drive past each other without realizing it. The film is so compelling that these incidents never feel contrived or melodramatic.

Furthermore, “The Edge of Heaven” speaks eloquently to issues of human rights — be they legal restraints for same-sex couples, religious tolerance or political protests. This is an extremely complex and accomplished film for its 34-year-old writer/director.

Akin opens his triptych with a segment entitled “Yeter’s Death.” Ali (Tuncel Kurtiz) is a Turkish widower and pensioner living in Bremen. He happens upon Yeter (Nursel Köse), a prostitute who speaks Turkish, and hires her for sex. Ali is lonely, and he asks Yeter to come and live with him in exchange for money and the condition that she sleep only with him. She agrees, and one night tells Ali’s son Nejat (Baki Davrak), a German professor, about wanting her daughter Ayten to get an education. What happens next is foretold by the death in the title and, without revealing details, it still prompts a shock.

The second episode, “Lotte’s Death,” is equally unsettling. Ayten (Nurgul Yesilcay) is a member of a terrorist sect who is forced to fend for herself after a series of circumstances separates her from her group. Renamed Gul, Ayten meets the German student Lotte (Patrycia Ziolkowska) on a college campus. Lotte takes the hungry Gul to lunch, and her face lights up with desire in the presence of this mysterious Turkish beauty. Lotte then brings Gul home, much to the chagrin of her mother, Susanne (Hanna Schygulla). That night, Lotte and Gul go out dancing and get intimate, kissing in public. But when the two women are pulled over by the police, Gul is arrested and soon deported. Against her mother’s wishes, Lotte heads to Istanbul to save her girlfriend, but Turkish law restricts visits for non-relatives. While Lotte spends months in Turkey trying to help Gul/Ayten, she meets Nejat and goes to live with him. However, soon after, she dies unexpectedly. This prompts the film’s third chapter, “The Edge of Heaven,” which brings Susanne to Turkey, where she reunites with Ayten and meets Nejat.

Akin’s film is so artfully made, it is spellbinding. His compositions and slow pacing pull the viewer into the film and confirm his talents as a master filmmaker. The unobtrusive way he frames Yeter in a window or shoots Lotte in a pool of light are striking and convey much about these characters’ emotional states. The film’s strong visual sense is also evidenced in a series of mesmerizing scenes of Nejat driving to/from Turkey.

Moreover, the idea of being on a journey — both literally and figuratively — is communicated as the characters’ quests take them (repeatedly) on boats, cars, buses and planes: They are almost always traveling between countries to meet their fates.

The acting by the entire cast of German and Turkish performers is also fantastic. But Hanna Schygulla, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s frequent leading lady, is especially memorable as Susanne. A phone call between Lotte and Susanne is heartbreaking, as is a powerful scene in which Susanne cries in a hotel room following her daughter’s death.

And while Akin foreshadows the fates of both Yeter and Lotte, the film still creates incredible tension and suspense. Viewers will feel sympathy for these characters and their families as “The Edge of Heaven” builds to its abrupt, open ending. The film also poses interesting, unanswered questions that cause it to linger in one’s mind. Does Ayten, like her mother Yeter, trade sex for a place to stay? And was there any sexual relationship between Nejat and Yeter?

A remarkable drama — and a must for lovers of art-house cinema — “The Edge of Heaven” is one of the year’s best films.