Biyograficim
Three Thousand Years of Longing

Three Thousand Years of Longing

Movie · 2022 · 5 people

A. S. Byatt's 1994 short story The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye is the source of Three Thousand Years of Longing, a 2022 American-Australian romantic fantasy drama that George Miller directed, produced and co-wrote with Augusta Gore. When it premiered out of competition at the 75th Cannes Film Festival on 20 May 2022, the audience gave it a six-minute standing ovation. Critics praised its visuals and performances, but it grossed only $20.3 million against a $60 million budget.

Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is a scholar content with life yet sceptical of the world. In Istanbul for a conference, she stays at the Pera Palas Hotel and buys an antique bottle that releases a djinn (İdris Elba), who offers three wishes in exchange for his freedom. Alithea knows wish stories usually end badly, so the djinn pleads his case with tales from his thousands of years, some set in Ottoman history. The hotel-room conversation, told in flashbacks, draws the pair toward unexpected feelings, and Alithea finally makes a surprising wish. Aamito Lagum, Lachy Hulme, Ece Yüksel and Zerrin Tekindor are also in the cast.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released it in the United States on 26 August 2022, Australia followed on 1 September and Turkey on 16 September. It is dedicated to Miller's mother Angela.

DirectorGeorge Miller
Production companyMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Reactions

You can pick up to 3 reactions.

Cast

Only cast members with a profile on this site are listed.

Idris Elba Idris Elba Actor · 54 years old Megan Gale Megan Gale Actor · 51 years old Tilda Swinton Tilda Swinton Actor · 65 years old Ece Yüksel Ece Yüksel Actor · 29 years old Zerrin Tekindor Zerrin Tekindor Actor · 62 years old

Through different eyes

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

Starting from A. S. Byatt's short story, George Miller has built a film about storytelling itself: a conversation in a hotel room, millennia-long tales opened through flashbacks. It is no surprise that critics praised the visuals and performances; the interplay between Tilda Swinton's wary scholar and Idris Elba's Djinn is the heart of the film. But the story-within-a-story structure, with each chapter carrying its own weight, can feel episodic at times, and the dramatic tension of the framing conversation can scatter among the flashbacks. That it disappointed at the box office despite a 60 million dollar budget may come down to such a literary narrative not matching mainstream expectations.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

A Djinn, three wishes, thousands of years of backstory: it sounds like a huge adventure, but this film is something else. Most of the story is a conversation in a hotel room; the action lives inside the past tales the Djinn tells. The visuals can be striking, but watching two characters talk nonstop takes patience. Try it if you love fantasy fables; if you are expecting adrenaline, lower your expectations.

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

What makes Three Thousand Years of Longing interesting for a Turkish audience is that the story begins in Istanbul, at the Pera Palace Hotel, and that the Djinn's tale reaches back into Ottoman history. A Western production using Istanbul and the Ottoman past as a fairy-tale setting also says something about how the city is seen from outside: history here is material for imagination rather than a record. So the film is best watched not with expectations of historical accuracy but as a free reading of a literary adaptation. The presence of Ece Yüksel and Zerrin Tekindor in the cast strengthens its ties with Turkey.

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

Reviews (0)

Log in Log in to write a review.

Comments