LUX Award Interview: Deniz Gamze Ergüven, director of Mustang

Deniz Gamze Ergüven's Mustang won the MEPs over with its five strong girls. On November 24, The French-Turkish-German co-production has been awarded the European Parliament's LUX Prize 2015, thus beating the other two finalists, Jonas Carpignano’s Mediterranea and Kristina Grozeva & Petar Valchanov’s Urok (The Lesson).

Mavi Boncuk |

The young Turkish-French director talks to EuroparlTV about the powerful message of the film. 

Interview: Deniz Gamze Ergüven, director of Mustang, LUX Film Prize winner

Mustang
Deniz Gamze Ergüven
France|Germany|Turkey
94 min
2015
Synopsis: 
Early summer. In a village in northern Turkey, Lale and her four sisters are walking home from school, playing innocently with some boys. The immorality of their play sets off a scandal that has unexpected consequences. The family home is progressively transformed into a prison ; instruction in homemaking replaces school and marriages start being arranged. The five sisters who share a common passion for freedom, find ways of getting around the constraints imposed on them.

Screenplay: Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Alice Winocour
Cast: Güneş Nezihe Şensoy, Doğa Zeynep Doğuşlu, Elit İşcan
Cinematography by: David Chizallet, Ersin Gok
Film editing: Mathilde Van de Moortel
Art director: Serdar Yemisci
Producer: Charles Gillibert
Production: CG Cinéma
Distribution: Ad Vitam, Cinéart

Sales agent: Kinology

Five girls, orphaned sisters aged between 12 and 16 years old, whose lives are a Garden of Eden filled with laughing and playing in the waves of the Black Sea with the boys from the school in their small village in the north of Turkey. But the status reserved for women in this country soon cuts down this group of girls ("the whole village is talking about your obscenities") and their family (their grandmother and uncle) decides to take back control of them, to prepare them and hasten them towards their future fate as wives. This is the opening premise of Mustang, the first feature film of Turkish filmmaker Deniz Gamze Ergüven, highly acclaimed in Directors' Fortnight of the 68th Cannes Film Festival.

The director flawlessly avoids falling into the trap of lament and excessive dramatisation whilst painting an accurate portrait of the progressive imprisonment of young girls by a society under the thumb of men with the blessing of tradition behind it. By choosing to tell the story through the eyes (and voice-over) of the youngest of the sisters, the rebellious and irreverent Lale (Günes Sensoy), the director injects a redeeming sense of humour into her film, an adamant energy, a sunny optimism that offsets the more sombre elements of the story. All wrapped in a rhythmic screenplay (written by the director with French writer Alice Winocour) discreetly inspired by the classic structure of fairy tales (the heroine must overcome hardship to free herself). 

After being reported by their neighbours for their innocent behaviour perceived as scandalous, the daily lives of the five sisters change drastically: "anything that could corrupt us was forbidden" (make-up, computer), "the house became a wife factory that we never left", "we had to wear shapeless poo-coloured dresses." Their grandmother teaches them how to cook and clean, showing them off to attract the attention of potential husbands. Even virginity tests are organised and special meetings between families (where deals are made) to confirm happy marriages (of the eldest daughter Ilayda Akdogan) or unhappy marriages (of the youngest sister - Tugba Sunguroglu). The days when Lale would sneak out with all her sisters and take them to see a football match reserved for fans, in a moment of frenzied joy, already seem long gone. Bars have been fixed to the windows and it all becomes too much for Ece (Elit Iscan), who commits suicide. Nur's (Doga Zeynep Doguslu) turn is drawing near when the untameable Lale decides to take matters into her own hands... 

Driven by a sustained rhythm, Mustang showcases a director with an undisputed talent for portrayal, who allows her film, shot in one location, to breathe with beautiful landscape shots (of the sea, greenery, a strip of road, the summer light). The charismatic actors do the rest to make this a very promising film scored by Australian musician Warren Ellis which carries a strong feminist message.


Produced by French production company CG Cinéma with Germany and Turkey, Mustang is being sold internationally by Kinology.