Ahmet, who had recently lost his wife and little daughter in a traffic accident while he was away with his lover, is a prominent person dealing with "head work". As someone who does not care for anybody and does not knuckle under anything, he moves on quite unaffected. Yet some things start to change in himself and his life without any apparent reason.
Acting
Demirkubuz's self-directed performance: a masterclass in withholding.
Direction
Long takes that punish you for wanting to look away.
Cinematography
Istanbul as psychological prison, all concrete and dead light.
Director
Zeki Demirkubuz
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Demirkubuz is Turkey's most stubborn auteur, refusing commercial concessions for three decades. This film nearly didn't get distribution because distributors found it 'unwatchable'—he considered that a compliment.
The title references Sartre's novel but inverts it: Roquentin was overwhelmed by existence, Ahmet is hollowed by its absence. The nausea here is the return of conscience, not its loss.
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