MY PROSTITUTE LOVE

MY PROSTITUTE LOVE (VESİKALI YARİM), 1968

Turkey | DCP, Color, 88’ | Turkish with English subtitlesDirector: Lütfi Akad
Cast: Türkan Şoray, İzzet Günay, Ayfer Feray

Although it may seem like an ordinary Yeşilçam melodrama, there’s something about this cult film by Akad that is not named and sets it apart from others of its kind. “— Ask him if he’s married! — I can’t... — Why not? — What if he says yes?” The story of the film, which virtually resists this dialogue, is set in 1968 in Istanbul. Sabiha is singing on stage. Halil can’t take his eyes off her. Halil is a married greengrocer of moderate means. Safa Önal wrote the script for this heartbroken, sentimental classic of melodrama in Turkish cinema based on a story by Sait Faik. With its romanticism, nostalgia, sincerity, aesthetic and narrative subtleties, and the successful performances of the impossible lovers Sabiha (Şoray) and Halil (Günay), the film has been hailed as an unforgettable masterpiece.