Beach, sunshine, white shirts, laughter, summer breeze - those words instantaneously remind me of the start of one’s adolescence, as the prelude of an exciting journey of life is about to unfold. However, for the girls living in a remote Turkish village, the imageries resemble the start of their nightmare, of the tragic oppression faced by every woman in their culture.

The film depicts the narrative of five sisters whose lives undergo tremendous changes due to cultural influence. Instead of enjoying youth like every other teenager, hanging out with friends, or having a crush on another boy, the aunt and the uncle deprive the girls of such freedom and even insult them “as a whore”. Being banned from leaving the house, the girls are no longer able to enjoy the same pleasure of being a teenager, but rather they are taught to be accustomed to the joy of being a wife. In the “wife factory”, according to one of the girls, the aunt constantly reinforces the stereotypes of women in their culture, in which states the exclusive obligation of wives to do the chores, to cook, and to please their husbands. Though not directly pointing out the lack of education of equal rights in the village, the film implicitly displays the toxic masculinity and systematic oppression in the culture. In one of the TV channels shown in the film, the host criticized feminists for not appreciating the pleasure of motherhood. 

Under such culture, it draws a clear distinction between male characters and female characters shown in cinematographic language. The silence and the forbearance of women form a strong contrast with the assertiveness and uncompromising stand of men. In the scene of the uncle arguing with his mother at the beginning of the film, even though the uncle seems to be in an inferior position as he got slapped, the power dynamic soon changes as he stands up and walks toward his mother. The use of low-angle shots when shooting the reaction of the uncle immediately conveys his superiority. As the conversation continues, he walks toward his mother who is moving backwards, with a high-angle shot showing her vulnerability. The differences in shot angles create a tension of the scene, which implicitly shows the opposition of the characteristics of male character and female character. 

Throughout the film, the tone changes from a warm yellow to a cool cyan, representing the hopes disappearing into one arranged marriage after another. The overall vintage tone gives off a nostalgic atmosphere, depicting the story in an acutely sensitive way. It seems to me almost like a flashback of memories of the little girl who is telling the narrative. The nostalgic feeling in the film adds on to the sense of intimacy between the characters and the audience, bringing them closer together and letting the latter better empathize with the former.

Towards the end of the film, as the two little girls got up on the bus to Istanbul, their eyes were filled with fear of the unknown future, but excitement toward the freedom they have craved for so long. However, life is not always a movie. It makes me wonder, how many girls in those villages are still suffering from the feudal traditions and stereotypes toward women, and how many of them actually get away with such tragedies?