Naciye (2015)
Starring Derya Alabora, Esin Harvey, Gorkem Mertsoz
Directed by Lutfu Emre Cicek
With his feature length debut Naciye premiering this week at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival in Los Angeles, Turkish director Lutfu Emre Cicek brings us quite the curious little film. Although carried by an air of familiar dread throughout, there is certainly more than what initially meets the eye here. Sure, Cicek’s work is touched by familiarity in its moving parts – at times, it recalls the tone of Julien Maury’s Inside, Carpenter’s cinematography, and Almodóvar’s dramatic, but odd touch. (These influences make sense once you see the film, trust me!) On the whole, though, it is Cicek’s complex villain and taut approach to his visuals that provide some refreshing touches to a well-worn formula. Flawless it is certainly not, but the director is commendable here in his ability to build and maintain a tense film with healthy shades of emotional depth.
Naciye tells of a Turkish couple on the rocks – well-meaning, but often foolish Bertan (Mertsoz) and a very pregnant and frustrated Bengi (Harvey) – who travel to spend their first night at a newly rented home on the Marmara Coast. Bertan has secured the sprawling residence on an impulse in an effort to help the couple jump-start the picture perfect life he desires for them, and Bengi is reasonably unhappy over not being consulted in this decision. Things are about to get quite a bit worse for these two, however. Upon arriving, the couple finds that the house seems oddly lived in. While initially trying to write this off as negligence on the part of the previous residents, the truth soon becomes clear as they are swiftly terrorized by one of the house’s oldest past residents named Naciye (Alabora), an unhinged woman who has been squatting in the home for years and will not give it up without a fight.
Following a violent introduction to its titular character, we flash away to meet Bertan and Bengi – albeit in the middle of an awkward session of oral sex that seems to be causing significant discomfort for the latter. Appearing flustered and then angry, we immediately get a sense of Bengi’s unhappiness, despite Bertan’s admirable attempts to satisfy. Although it’s assumed that a difficult pregnancy is the cause for her mood, we see her retreat into the bathroom and burst into a fit of tears, gathering that something greater is amiss here. It is subsequently hinted that perhaps Bengi is hiding something from the optimistic, but oblivious Bertan, a traditional man who only wants the dream life and a picturesque family. These early moments between the two, although brief, do a wonderful job of initially connecting us intimately with our protagonists, and we feel quite like we have just walked in on a very uncomfortable turn of events in their relationship.
While this tension-filled setup between our expecting lovers promises for an exploration of sorts into their troubles, the film actually shifts quite quickly and spends more time exploring Naciye herself. We are shown glimpses into her past and simultaneously jump right into her brief reign of terror on the couple in the present as she sets to reclaim her home. It’s a narrative focus that works both for and against the film to varying degrees; while flashbacks to Naciye’s childhood provide more of the subtly disturbing moments here, her quick present-day descent upon the home cuts the engaging romantic drama between Bertan and Bengi short – right as it’s getting juicy, too! Once the couple encounter Naciye, what unfolds is essentially an extended hide-and-seek scene intercut with flashbacks. It will make you jump at times, but it will also make you wonder where the film might have gone had the weightier ideas introduced early on been explored more pointedly. At 81 minutes in length, perhaps an extended cut of the film would have allowed for these half-realized themes to truly flourish.
That’s not to say that Naciye completely botches its present-day horror story of survival, because it is very effective at times, thanks in large part to its focal residential set piece. Cicek draws out the tension in long, scanning shots in a way that puts us right there in the massive home with its new residents, fearfully looking around corners and taking in the creepy odds and ends scattered throughout. The score also successfully serves to elevate the tension; it is mischievous and unsettling, capturing the maniacal energy that very quickly descends upon the couple once they realize that their lives are in danger. To top it off, the sound design is notably anxiety inducing, with the heavy audible tick of a heartbeat, creaking doors, and wind chimes filtering in sinisterly through the sound of frantically pulsating piano keys. Cicek’s feel for atmosphere in his technical hand shines here in a fresh way, even if we may find the accompanying action to be slightly stale at points.
Ultimately, it does help to accept that this is Naciye’s film, and Alabora delivers the goods here as a villain that is all at once desperate, damaged, and oddly pitiable. There is a particular scene towards the end of the film in which simultaneous deaths occur and Albora channels her inner Pamela Voorhees in the most admirable of ways. She gets even more unapologetically vengeful, and at this point you certainly don’t blame her for the violence that follows. I may end up in the minority for this, but I found Alabora’s Naciye to be much more enjoyable to watch than, say, Béatrice Dalle’s overcooked La Femme from Inside.
While Naciye does misstep occasionally, it is still a solid and enjoyable watch, and is particularly one that I think could find some love and support on the festival circuit. Save for a couple of questionable editing decisions – including an ambiguously cut ending and an oddly positioned flashback to the home’s previous residents – Lutfu Emre Cicek stylistically and tonally shows great skill here as a fresh directorial face in the genre. His eye for the complex darkness in his characters is something I particularly found quite refreshing, so I do hope to see him move to subvert genre tropes and further embrace the exploration of the murkier recesses in people and relationships. We got a nice taste of it here, but I will be keeping my fingers crossed for an even darker, more unsettling follow-up — if he’s up for the challenge!
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