The title Mustang refers to the wild stallions
indigenous to the region of Deniz Gamze Ergüven's beautiful Cannes
award-winner, but it could just as easily apply to the untamed spirit of the
sisterhood at the story's heart. It's a film about sexual repression,
rebellion, and siblinghood in a conservative Turkish society that views femininity
as something to be locked away and kept from the world. While Ergüven
could have chosen to pursue the subject coldly from a distance, it's the harsh
criticism he passes on such cultures that gives the film its powerful edge.
It's also that judgment which separates Mustang from Sofia
Coppola's surreal The Virgin Suicides, which tells a very similar
tale of confined female vitality. Lale (Güneş Nezihe Şensoy), Nur (Doğa
Zeynep Doğuşlu), Ece (Elit Işcan), Selma (Tuğba Sunguroğlu), and Sonay (Ilayda
Akdoğan) are five orphaned sisters whose energy and spirit is frowned upon in
their community where women are to be controlled. Something as simple as
frolicking in the water with a group of boys is enough to warrant harsh
penalties at home, meted about by their uncle who will stop at nothing to tame
them. He insists the older girls have been sexually active, something that
would make them impossible to be married off to the men of his choosing. So
they're taken to get virginity tests despite their cries of innocence.
But that is just the start of the indignities
forced upon these vibrant siblings. Everything from their clothing to their
diet to the amount of time they are allowed outdoors is restricted; bars on the
windows and doors give the appropriate sense of imprisonment. Naturally, this
inspires rebellion, mostly within Lale, the youngest of the sisters. Largely
through her funny and stubborn perspective we see what happens to her older
siblings. Their bond is forcibly ripped apart as each is married off to one guy
or another, turning the home into a "wife factory" as Lale puts it.
But she doesn't want that fate for herself, and acts out in any way she can.
Some of her exploits are comical, like a risky escape to catch a soccer match
which, through familial subterfuge, ends with the entire town losing electricity.
Other things we experience through Lale's eyes aren't so fun, as not all
of her sisters are equipped to handle life's burdens the same way.
Some may take issue with Ergüven and
co-writer Alice Winocour for not scouring deeper into why such cultures are
able to persist, or better yet why individual families would seek to suppress
the spirits of those they love. There are characters in the story who love the
girls and yet enable their harsh treatment, and very little attempt is made to
explain those decisions. But that also would have made for a very different
film than the one we are treated to, one that allows the engaging performances
of its cast to take bloom. There's an intimacy between all of the young
actresses that comes through naturally, ebbing and flowing like all sibling
relationships do. In a year that has seen a number of great performances
by young stars, this film can boast that it is full of them. Mustang could have been relentlessly grim
but Ergüven finds just as many joys to go along with the pains of fighting for
female independence.
Rating: 4 out of 5
