The heavy mood of indolence and rage, calibrated with ellipses in action, is stifling--everyone seems to move in a queasy haze.
Three Monkeys(Üç maymun)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Turkey, France, Italy · 2008
1h 49m
Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Starring Yavuz Bingöl, Hatice Aslan, Ahmet Rıfat Şungar, Ercan Kesal
Genre Drama, Thriller
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
A family battles against the odds to stay together when small lies grow into an extravagant cover-up. In order to avoid hardship and responsibilities that would otherwise be impossible to endure, the family chooses to ignore the truth, not to see, hear or talk about it. But does playing “Three Monkeys” invalidate the truth of its existence?
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
Good pulp depends, above all, on a ruthless sense of economy, and Three Monkeys is just a bit too profligate, too fancy, to be entirely convincing.
Ceylan’s departure from his moody sonatas "Distant" and "Climates" into more plotted film noir is equal parts Bresson and Buñuel, a merciless etching of the indiscreet charmlessness of the Turkish bourgeoisie, which sharply raises the stakes on that class’s petty hypocrisy and serial betrayals.
But gripping as the film often is, its unrelenting doom and gloom offers fewer lasting rewards.
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
Unpredictable and gratifying, Three Monkeys emerges as a mordant cautionary tale on the contagiousness of corruption. It is rich in atmosphere.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Liam Lacey
Though Three Monkeys feels conventional compared with Ceylan's other work, it maintains its auteurist imprint, especially the rich colour palette and suggestive HD camerawork that helped Ceylan take the best-director honours at Cannes this year.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Sean Axmaker
Ceylan has an unerring gift for camera placement, and his slow, measured scenes can be as hypnotic as they are lovely -- at times, too much so, with the characters constrained by his poetic perfection.
This is powerful filmmaking for discerning viewers.
Users who liked this film also liked
Joint Security Area
(공동경비구역 JSA)
Eleven shots! The truth is there.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Korea • 2000
- Director Park Chan-wook
- Cast Lee Byung-hun, Song Kang-ho, Lee Young-ae, Kim Tae-woo, Shin Ha-kyun, Christoph Hofrichter
- Genre Action, Drama, Thriller, War
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, Criterion Channel, Kocowa, ARROW, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, AsianCrush, Midnight Pulp
U Turn
A man on the run is trapped in a strange desert town after his beloved Mustang breaks down.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, United States • 1997
- Director Oliver Stone
- Cast Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Lopez, Joaquin Phoenix, Claire Danes, Powers Boothe
- Genre Thriller
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube
Dragon Hunters
(Chasseurs de dragons)
Dragon hunting isn't a fairy tale
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Luxembourg, Germany • 2008
- Director Guillaume Ivernel, Arthur Qwak
- Cast Vincent Lindon, Patrick Timsit, Philippe Nahon, Amanda Lear, Marie Drion, Jérémy Prévost
- Genre Animation, Family
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Climates
(İklimler)
Isa and Bahar are two lonely figures dragged through the ever-changing climate of their inner selves in pursuit of a happiness that no longer belongs to them.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey, France • 2006
- Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- Cast Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Nazan Kirilmis, Mehmet Eryilmaz, Arif Asçi, Can Özbatur
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Video
Late Spring
(晩春)
Widower Shukichi feels obligated to marry off his only daughter.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1949
- Director Yasujirō Ozu
- Cast Chishū Ryū, Setsuko Hara, Yumeji Tsukioka, Haruko Sugimura, Hohi Aoki, Jun Usami
- Genre Drama
- Available on Fandor, Fandor Amazon Channel, Criterion Channel, Max Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, Plex, Plex Channel
Distant
(Uzak)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey • 2002
- Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- Cast Muzaffer Özdemir, Emin Toprak, Zuhal Gencer, Nazan Kirilmis, Feridun Koc, Fatma Ceylan
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
My Only Sunshine
(Hayat Var)
Portrait of a lost childhood.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria • 2009
- Director Reha Erdem
- Cast Elit İşcan, Erdal Beşikçioğlu, Banu Fotocan, Önder Açıkbaş, Halim Ercan, Levend Yılmaz
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Submarino
Two brothers meet at their mother's funeral, each in his way on a path of self-destruction, both haunted by a tragedy in their youth.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Denmark, Sweden • 2010
- Director Thomas Vinterberg
- Cast Jakob Cedergren, Peter Plaugborg, Gustav Fischer Kjærulff, Morten Rose, Henrik Strube, Helene Reingaard Neumann
- Genre Drama
- Available on Fandango At Home
Clouds of May
(Mayıs Sıkıntısı)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey • 1999
- Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- Cast Emin Ceylan, Muzaffer Özdemir, Fatma Ceylan, Mehmet Emin Toprak, Muhammad Zimbaoglu
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Mondays in the Sun
(Los lunes al sol)
A group of former shipbuilders in a coastal town struggle with unemployment after the closure of their shipyard.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain, France, Italy • 2002
- Director Fernando León de Aranoa
- Cast Javier Bardem, Luis Tosar, Nieve de Medina, Enrique Villén, Celso Bugallo, José Ángel Egido
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Fandango At Home
Vizontele
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey • 2001
- Director Yılmaz Erdoğan
- Cast Yılmaz Erdoğan, Demet Akbağ, Altan Erkekli, Cem Yılmaz, Şafak Sezer, Tolga Çevik
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Apple TV
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
(Bir zamanlar Anadolu'da)
In the rural area around the Anatolian town of Keskin, officials lead a search for a murder victim.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina • 2011
- Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- Cast Muhammet Uzuner, Yılmaz Erdoğan, Taner Birsel, Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan, Fırat Tanış, Ercan Kesal
- Genre Crime, Drama
- Available on MUBI Amazon Channel, Metrograph, Apple TV, Kanopy
Winter Sleep
(Kış Uykusu)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey, France, Germany • 2014
- Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- Cast Haluk Bilginer, Melisa Sözen, Demet Akbağ, Ayberk Pekcan, Serhat Mustafa Kiliç
- Genre Drama
- Available on Kino Film Collection, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy
X+Y
A math prodigy finds new friendships when he lands a spot at the International Mathematics Olympiad.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2014
- Director Morgan Matthews
- Cast Asa Butterfield, Rafe Spall, Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Jo Yang, Alex Lawther
- Genre Drama
- Available on Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus, Starz Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Kanopy, Hoopla, Plex, Plex Channel
The Wild Pear Tree
(Ahlat Ağacı)
A son returns home to only to be met with his father's debt.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Turkey, Macedonia, France • 2018
- Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- Cast Aydın Doğu Demirkol, Murat Cemcir, Bennu Yıldırımlar, Hazar Ergüçlü, Serkan Keskin, Tamer Levent
- Genre Drama
- Available on Metrograph, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy