Having seen more than 20 Turkish feature films and several serials in the months December and January, I found not one I would like to see again or recommend. The intentions of producers, scriptwriters and directors are in some cases probably quite earnest, but the final product is of low quality. Here I shall present one movie from 2025, She said “Maybe” and, yes, this is the title, though it is a Turkish film but the dialogues are mostly in German. But this is the least troublesome confusion. I did not quite understand how the title relates to the film.
As in every film, here too I look at three aspects: a) Whether the plot and characters are reasonably realistic. b) Whether they are presented consistently. c) Whether the acting is good and convincing.
The plot is simple but made very complicated by directors (Ngo The Chau & Buket Alakus) & scriptwriters (Ipek Zübert & Carsten Ludwig).
Mavi and Can are two young Turks fully Germanized in Hambourg, she a young and promising architect, he a specialist in Company Law. They go to Istanbul for a vacation only to discover that Mavi is the granddaughter, from her dead father’s side, of one of the wealthiest women in Turkey and a supposedly “aristocratic” large family. Now, why the ever alert and careful Yadigar did not learn that her only son who married beneath them had a daughter but finds out only after 20 or so years is beyond belief. Anyway, Mavi naturally gets attracted to the new family and its incredible luxury. But grandmother wants to find for her a “proper” husband, not the inadequate Can, and starts plotting to separate the lovers.
Here arises another problem. This is supposed to be an aristocratic family upholding principles and values of the Ottoman culture and being rather contemptuous of the Turks in lower classes and especially those in Germany! Yet, apart from the grossest luxury which money usually buys (food, drinks, clothes, vehicles, buildings), we see no culture at all – neither fine Arts nor simple, decent human virtues. Edo & Leyla do show some decency, but all others, even Yadigar’s friends, are totally enveloped and blinded by money. Güney is the very embodiment of this almost inhuman clan – arrogant, fraudulent, lying. The enterprise which he is supposed to manage is not presented except as a vast modern edifice, then a long corridor, then an inadequate secretary and then Güney’s office. No other activity at all!
Having accepted the various absurdities which spoil the very lovely views of different parts of Istanbul, we get a fresh mild shock when Grandmother in a most cynical and gross move tries to buy off Can so that he leaves Mavi. She offers him a blank cheque and he writes something on it, but we are not shown what! A cheap trick which adds neither to the suspense nor the tensions that follow – only the inadequacy of the directors!
The acting is awful. Neither Mavi (Beriton Balsi) nor her boyfriend Can (Siran Gülec) can act beyond the basics. She smiles endlessly, expressing nothing and he seems to be lost all the time. These are the protagonists. Edo, the distant cousin is a caricature with his fan (see extreme right in the photo), his exaggerated laughter and constant drinking. So is Güney, the CEO of the Bilgin Holdings, another distant cousin. Kent, who is designed by grandmother Yadigar to be Mavi’s acceptable husband stares and smiles but it is difficult to see why he is such a worthy bachelor. Yadigar is rather robotic!
The first really big shock comes at about the middle (at 01.03.43) when the doorman does not allow Can to enter the private Club where Mavi her friend Nora, Edo and Leyla, are eating. Kent also appears there but he obviously did not go with them and did not, in fact, join them. Yet the doorman tells Can that Mavi is with Kent (and they are both seen through the open door to talk together, separately from the others) and Can is not on the list! Now, Nora has told Can where to find them, yet did not put his name on the list. Be that as it may, Can could have shouted to her, to Mavi or to Edo (the door was open), yet he does nothing and simply goes away. And instead of texting Nora that he was not allowed to go in, he sends a message that he changed his mind and is not coming! Rather stupid!
From here on one feels certain any amount of stupidity will follow to increase tension and lead to the inevitable end of all such soap-operas. Sure enough, we next have the first quarrel of the two lovers in the hotel. Can appears to believe something is going on between Mavi and Kent and begins to question her: where had she been? He says nothing of grandmother’s attempt to buy him off and of the doorman’s prohibiting his entry and telling him that Mavi now was with Kent!
The visit to Cappadocia is a nice interlude but the script pushes on with its absurdities. There Mavi is not firm enough to stop Kent’s amorous approaches at once and even allows a light kiss (the scene is photographed, of course, and used to produce more enmity!).
The chaotic action that follows on Yadigar’s birthday may have been intended to be humorous but, in fact, shows the scriptwriters’ and directors’ ludicrous incompetence even at the soap-opera level.
Then, there is the matter of production. What sort of audiences did the producers have in mind? Only imbeciles would enjoy such a film.
