Time to Love (1966)

Time to Love (Turkey, 1966) 91 min B&W DIR-PROD: Metin Erksan. SCR: Metin Erksan, Kemal Demirel. DOP: Mengü Yeğin. MUSIC: Metin Bükey. CAST: Müşfik Kenter, Sema Özcan, Adnan Uygur, Fadıl Garan.

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The word “restoration” is a cinephile’s catnip. All it takes is to use this word in the same phrase with an old favourite, or for that matter, a movie unfamiliar to us, and our curiosity is piqued. I had never heard of Time to Love, before seeing that CINSSU was showing this as part of their long-running Free Friday Films at Innis Town Hall. This Turkish film is the first ever restoration committed by the MUBI streaming service, who also co-presented the screening. (Every other seat in the auditorium was draped with a MUBI tote bag!) I could’ve stayed home and watched in on a computer, but seeing it theatrically with a responsive audience enhanced the film’s absurdity all the more.

House painter Halil has been working in a villa on the Princes’ Islands to the south of Istanbul. He is infatuated with a photograph of a woman in a house he previously worked on, so much that each day for nearly a year, he has let himself back into the house, merely to sit and stare at the picture on the wall. And then, Meral, the woman in the photograph, returns to her island getaway, and discovers Halil staring at her picture. Rather than being creeped out by him, she falls in love with him, out of his devotion to her image.

However, she is disheartened to learn that Halil doesn’t love her back. He just loves her picture! Being in love with an image instead of a real person protects him from potential heartbreak. This makes sense, as how often have we been disappointed in love, when the object of our affection becomes less than the “image” we have cast for them?

Halil’s older co-worker hopes their relationship will work out. In a way, the audience does too, as Meral is unhappily engaged to a possessive man-child, who seeks revenge on Halil, for unwittingly stealing her attention from him.

Because this is “Noirvember” (aka- a month where everyone watches film noir, just like they watch horror films all October), Innis has scheduled noir-themed movies for every Friday this month. However, the programmer who introduced the screening (wish he had given his name) amusingly said that they instead began the month with a “non-noir” screening. I would argue though, that it is noir to a certain degree, with the trope of obsessive love taken to dangerous degrees.

Time to Love appears more as a parody of melodrama. By its nature, melodrama is parody, in its larger than life self-awareness. Each subsequent scene of Halil staring at the photograph elicited giggles from the audience. And yet, there is an underscore of truth to this theatre of the absurd. Halil divorces himself from human contact, and from his own feelings. He fears the consequences if he finally lets his guard down. The consistent rain and the remote location are also crucial to this mini-essay on isolation. (Admittedly, between brush strokes, there is little else to do on this island except smoke, play guitars, and stare at photographs.)

The thick chords of Metin Bükey’s score, and the striking black and white cinematography of Mengü Yeğin, call attention to themselves, elevating the requisite “self-awareness” in melodrama. There are many meticulously framed shots of people pondering while looking out water-streaked windows, or positioned in carefully composed long shots that they become much like the mannequin Halal puts on his canoe (another clever way in which he “replaces” the real Meral).

Perhaps the film’s one flaw is the stuttering pace; the price paid for such a unique viewing experience. Many scenes conclude with such long takes that we think the movie is ending, until one more wrinkle to this love triangle unravels. Time to Love may not be the “lost classic” we were hoping for, given the effort of its 4k restoration, but is a well worth a one-time visit, with some striking images that stay with you long after the film ends. (I love that shot of an unhappy bride with silhouettes of dancing wedding guests in the background.)

Director Metin Erksan is perhaps best remembered for his 1963 film Dry Summer, as it was included in Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project video releases. Turksploitation fans also know his 1974 film Seytan (better known over here as Turkish Exorcist). I admit however, that before this week I was unfamiliar with his name. A cursory glance at his filmography reveals some other interesting titles like The Angel of Vengeance (a 1976 gender-reversed adaptation of Hamlet!), and several films like this picture in which obsession is taken to extremes, like The Well (1968) and Immortal Love (1966). In my 40th anniversary of cinephilia, I am delighted and humbled in finding another cinematic world to explore. (Nice tote bag, too.)

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