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Once Upon a Time (Bir Varmış Bir Yokmuş)

Once Upon a Time (Bir Varmış Bir Yokmuş) (translated)

Movie · 2015 · 4 people

Romance, music and drama blend in Bir Varmış Bir Yokmuş (Once Upon a Time), a Turkish film released on March 6, 2015. Its title echoes the classic opening of a fairy tale and hints at what the film is about: the last fairy tale left to grown-ups. İlksen Başarır directed it and wrote the screenplay with leading actor Mert Fırat. Kutu Film produced it, and it runs about a hundred minutes.

The story begins with a song: you like a song because whoever wrote it has touched you in some way. Nehir follows such a song, and the trail leads her down an endless road to Ozan, the rock musician who wrote it. Their relationship is squeezed between the determination of one and the shifting moods of the other. Melisa Sözen plays Nehir and Mert Fırat plays Ozan, singing Müslüm Gürses's Nilüfer himself for the role. Hare Sürel plays Sibel and Selen Öztürk plays Sema.

Emre Tanyıldız was director of photography and the music was by Ali Güçlü Şimsek and Görkem Karabudak. Murat Çelik was production manager and Ezgi Baltaş was casting director.

Directorİlksen Başarır
Production companyKutu Film

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Cast

Hare Sürel Hare Sürel Actor · 43 years old Sibel Melisa Sözen Melisa Sözen Actor · 41 years old Nehir Mert Fırat Mert Fırat Actor · 45 years old Ozan Selen Öztürk Selen Öztürk Actor · 46 years old Sema

Also in the cast: Mustafa Uzunyılmaz, Judith Lieberman, Derya Durmaz, Anıl Altınöz, Göktay Tosun

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Through different eyes

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

Following a song to find the person who wrote it... the idea recalls the pure romanticism of our old love films. Mert Fırat singing Müslüm Gürses's Nilüfer in his own voice is one of the film's most heartfelt touches; the sorrow that song carries brings an emotional weight of its own. Melisa Sözen's Nehir is fragile and believable, too. Still, a relationship that never settles, swinging between one person's resolve and the other's ups and downs, grows tiring at times. An eye that looks for the clear feeling of the classics loses its way a little here.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

İlksen Başarır wrote the screenplay with leading man Mert Fırat, and the partnership shows in the weight given to the characters' inner lives. Music is not decoration here but the engine of the story: a song sets Nehir on the road and also shapes the film's structure. Emre Tanyıldız's cinematography and the score by Ali Güçlü Şimsek and Görkem Karabudak give this road story its atmosphere. The weak spot is a relationship dynamic that stays on one note for too long; one person's determination and the other's mood swings turn into a repeating loop, and roughly a hundred minutes is a lot for that loop to carry. The idea of the last fairy tale left to grown-ups is a lovely starting point, but the film does not always deepen that tale enough.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humor and heart.

A romantic music drama aimed more at young adults and grown-ups than at children. The strains in the relationship and its melancholy mood may feel heavy and dull to little ones. Music-loving teenagers will enjoy the songs, and older viewers will find something familiar in Müslüm Gürses's Nilüfer. Better suited to an evening for two than a family night.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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