Süt | Semih Kaplanoğlu (2008)
In Yusuf's world, the written word is assigned to the realm of miracle -- in two instances within the film a hand-written slip of paper is submerged into a bowl of milk -- a spell meant to cast out the presence of a snake. In the first scene of the film this spell is successful; a snake is drawn out of the throat of a woman who hangs upside down over a smoldering pot. The ritual brings to thought the interminable plurality of the S: snake, satan, silence, sacrifice, secret, the snake that chokes the woman is removed through the power of the word. Later in the film, when a snake enters Yusuf's house, the spell fails. Later still, Yusuf opens the door to see the snake, slowly moving along the couch. With no effort to rid the house of the snake, he closes the door and turns away. Yusuf accepts the serpent as his burden, and toils in silence.
A markedly more pessimistic outlook than the films predecessor, Süt nevertheless engulfs us in Kaplanoğlu's fascination with our personal relationships to each other. As Tarkovsky is to the universal, as Ozu is to the familial, Kaplanoğlu is to the deeply personal. All of these are different windows into the same soul, of course -- and so it's no coincidence that Kaplanoğlu's trilogy rest so heavily on the gaze of its actors.
When Yusuf receives a slip of paper from the medical examiner, we know what is written on it. But if we didn't, Yusuf's gaze would be enough. He does not crumple the paper. He does not stomp his feet or exasperate, which are signs and signs only of frustration -- but his gaze carries it all: frustration, despair, longing, relief, nostalgia. The eyes can tell us more than any other part of the body.
It must not have been coincidence either, that Kaplanoğlu casted an actor with such striking eyes.
Although I don't think Süt or Bal stand as strongly by themselves as Yumurta, they are to me nothing short of masterpieces. Just as his work concerns the personal, the effect they have on the viewer will be too. For me, I cannot imagine better films. The Yusuf Trilogy is my Lord of the Rings.
