Biyograficim
Nar

The Pomegranate (Nar)

Movie · 2011 · 7 people

Ümit Ünal wrote and directed Nar (The Pomegranate), a 2011 Turkish drama and thriller. Shot in just fifteen days, it opened on December 23, 2011, and stayed in cinemas for ten weeks, in which 8,588 people saw it and it grossed 83,702 liras. It runs about 81 minutes and competed at the Antalya Golden Orange that year; the director's protest over the result drew wider attention to it.

The story centers on a woman who sets out to get her own justice. The lives of four people of different faiths cross inside one house within about half a day. At its heart is a questioning of trust, mutual faith and the sense of justice. Serra Yılmaz, Erdem Akakçe, İdil Fırat and İrem Altuğ lead the cast, with Şükran Ovalı, Mahir İpek and Ayla Arslancan also appearing. It is one of the few Turkish films whose lead roles are lesbian women and whose plot runs through them, together with Düş Gezginleri (1992) and İki Genç Kız (2005).

Ünal likens people to the seeds of a pomegranate: very alike and very different, yet also like an unopened whole. When the bonds break and the skin cracks, the seeds scatter. One critic saw Nar as a sibling of his personal films 9 and Ara.

DirectorÜmit Ünal
The Pomegranate (Nar)

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Cast

Ayla Arslancan Ayla Arslancan Actor · died at 78 Erdem Akakçe Erdem Akakçe Actor · born 1976 İdil Fırat İdil Fırat Actor · 53 years old İrem Altuğ İrem Altuğ Actor · 46 years old Mahir İpek Mahir İpek Actor · 54 years old Serra Yılmaz Serra Yılmaz Actor · 72 years old Şükran Ovalı Şükran Ovalı Actor · 41 years old

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Through different eyes

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

Shot by Ümit Ünal in fifteen days, Nar is a chamber film that tries to turn its constraints into form. Bringing four people of different faiths together in one house, within a span of about half a day, gives the script a classical discipline of unity, and the tension grows out of that confinement. Led by Serra Yılmaz, the cast knows how to carry the weight in a limited space. The director's pomegranate image gives the film a strong central metaphor. But such a compressed structure does not always leave the characters enough room to deepen; at times the idea gets ahead of the people. Even so, few films handle the question of trust and justice this intensely in eighty-one minutes. One critic's view of Nar as a sibling of Ünal's 9 and Ara is apt.

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

This is not a film to sit down and watch with the children or the grandparents. It deals with heavy subjects such as seeking justice, trust and faith, and the tension never lets up. Its story and characters speak to an adult audience. It is short, at eighty-one minutes, but it carries a lot of weight. To me it is one for the grown-ups to watch and talk over once the little ones are in bed.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

What stands out most in Nar is the way it gathers four people of different faiths under one roof and tests trust and the sense of justice in that small community. The house becomes a model of society: like the pomegranate seeds in Ünal's image, people who are very alike and very different scatter once the bonds break. It is one of the few Turkish films that put lesbian women in the lead and run the story through them, so its mention alongside Düş Gezginleri and İki Genç Kız makes sense. That ten weeks in cinemas brought it only a little over 8,500 viewers suggests how narrow a space such stories were left in theatres.

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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