Los Angeles Times by Betsy Sharkey
Self-discovery always comes with a cost, and in Bliss the price is a great one. It is mesmerizing to watch it unfold in the lives of these two young people.
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Turkey, Greece · 2007
1h 45m
Director Abdullah Oğuz
Starring Özgü Namal, Talat Bulut, Murat Han, Mustafa Avkıran
Genre Drama
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The 17 year-old Meryem is believed to have been violated, and her village customs call for her to be killed so that honor can be restored. At the last minute, the man ordered to kill her decides against it, and runs away from the village with Meryem forever. They eventually meet a college professor stuck in an existential crisis.
Los Angeles Times by Betsy Sharkey
Self-discovery always comes with a cost, and in Bliss the price is a great one. It is mesmerizing to watch it unfold in the lives of these two young people.
Village Voice by Melissa Anderson
Though calling out the abominable oppression of women, even in a vehicle as didactic as Bliss, serves at least some redeemable purpose.
New Orleans Times-Picayune by Mike Scott
Just as key to the movie's impact are its well-acted scenes of heart-wrenching emotion, although some stray perilously close to melodrama.
To its favor, the film is blessed with strong peformances by Ozgu Namal as Meryem and Murat Han as Cemal.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Rick Groen
The result is infotainment dressed up as an art flick. Turkish society is fascinatingly complex and its East/West tensions give rise not to easy allegories but to hard ambiguities. To explore that truth, read any novel by Orhan Pamuk. To escape it, watch Bliss.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
This consistently gripping, visually intoxicating film stands as a landmark of contemporary Turkish cinema.
San Francisco Chronicle by Walter Addiego
Director Abdullah Oguz gives us lots of nice scenery, but the simplistic story and characters strain credibility. What's more, the climactic plot turn is as hokey as it gets.
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