MUSTANG

Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s brilliant debut film is a raw, funny and moving drama about five young orphaned sisters who live with their grandmother and bullying uncle in a sleepy Turkish village. Tentatively, the teenage girls start to test out their sexuality and the conservative community around them responds with panic. And in a culture in which a woman’s worth is still measured by her marriageability, this is a serious blow to their prospects. The grandmother who has raised them since they were orphaned bows to pressure and locks down the girls’ freedom. Their phones are confiscated, they’re made to wear shapeless dresses and the house is turned into a “wife factory” as grandma tries to find each of them a husband. But the girls are far from the obedient little mice their society wants them to be…

 

What the press said…

 

“Gripping… A sweet, sad Turkish delight” – ★★★★ The Guardian

“Brilliant, affecting” ★★★★★ The Irish Times

“Mustang is full of life even as it depicts lives in lockdown.” – New York Times

“A sneaky shocker of a debut feature—sneaky because it’s so good at depicting the sisters’ joyousness before, and even after, darkness descends.”- The Wall Street Journal

“A tender and fresh coming-of-age film that honors the bonds of womanhood and sisterhood without taking them for granted” – The Atlantic

“A movie that never puts a foot wrong… confirms that sensitive, humanist, deeply immersive filmmaking remains alive and well” – ★★★★ The Washington Post

“Thrilling… Puts audiences in mind of The Virgin Suicides” – The Guardian