Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton in Three Thousand Years of Longing movie

Movie Review: Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)

By peerynt | Whizzing Tripod | 9 Sep 2022


[All the images in this post are from moviemeter.nl, used here on Fair Use basis.]

It feels great to walk into the auditorium of a movie theatre with no expectations other than perhaps interesting performances by a couple of A-list actors, and being blown away by ensuing visual experience. Seeing both, Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba on movie posters weeks prior to the release of Three Thousand Years of Longing I didn’t pay attention to anything else in those – it all just looked like some romantic adventure in retrospect, quite possibly dramatic. One of those films, which I knew I am going to see because of the actors; same reason I know I’m going to be seeing Amsterdam.

Then I was in my seat at the movie theatre watching the Three Thousand Years of Longing (not having seen the trailer, or read anything about the film). Ok, so Tilda Swinton, whom I personally best remember playing angel Gabriel in Constantine, is an academic in this. Nice. A narratologist too apparently. She travels to Istanbul in Turkey. She may or may not have hallucinations. So far so good; I was intrigued. At the same time, what bugged me were two camera shots: a plane landing which then blended into a frame with wheels of a luggage trolley. I thought, “whoever the director is, he’s nailed this.”

Not long after we get introduced to Tilda Swinton’s character Alithea, a British scholar visiting Istanbul for a conference, the film takes us to a hotel room. Now, this year has already turned out to be quite surprising when it comes to watching a well known actress in a hotel room in a film therefore I was most intrigued to see what secrets appertaining to hotel rooms are going to be revealed this time.

It turned out, the film, based on Dame Antonia Susan Duffy’s short story The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye, has got a lot to do with Istanbul, but not in the manner an unsuspecting spectator would expect. Istanbul is Istanbul only since 1930; prior to that there was Constantinople – a capital of Roman, Bizantyne, Latin and Ottoman empires, one after the other. Thus we are talking rich history here (remember, three thousand years). Idris Elba’s Djinn, as supernatural as they come, and yet aware of criticism they have earned throughout the centuries as professional misinterpreters of people’s wishes, is the being on whom falls the duty of revealing the culture and its richness. When I mentioned the fact of being blown away by visual experience at the beginning of this writing, I meant not just the work of director, but also cinematography as well as the work of both, art department and the special effects team who have all managed to bring to screen a number of stories told by Djinn in a manner that, while could seem somewhat familiar if you know Aladdin and 1001 Nights, is however less fantasy driven and more in tune with the soul of 2020ies. This latter one may seem like a vague, a bit meaningless description therefore I shall note that there are no mythical monsters in this film, but there are romantic pursuits. There is no granting of wishes in the traditional sense, rather an analytic approach to the well known trope, requiring self reflection from the lead characters. There is cultural history being told here, but without any real romantic heroism; rather with a focus on the order of things at certain time periods and characteristics of some important people there. This is a visually rich cinematic tale for adults, who still have fond childhood memories of watching and reading well known Arabic legends.

Tilda Swinton as Alithea Binnie in Three Thousand Years of Longing

Tilda Swinton as Alithea Binnie in Three Thousand Years of Longing movie.

And women. Yes, the themes of beauty standards, body positivity, the role of the institution of marriage and opportunities for education are all addressed at various points in Three Thousand Years of Longing. And all that without losing the magnificent vibe of the whole cinematic venture. “Who the hell is the director?” I kept wondering.

End credits rolled and it turned out the director was George Miller, who also co-wrote the screenplay together with Augusta Gore. “Hang on,” I thought, “I know that name! Let’s Google this...”

While I think Miller’s Mad Max film series was incredible and monumental action cinema back in the day, I wouldn’t say I was a huge fan of Fury Road as I saw it as unnecessarily excessive and exorbitant, but I can’t say I didn’t like it either.
Now, why Fury Road, and also the upcoming Furiosa, is worth a mention here is because all of a sudden the masterly handling of feminism in Three Thousand Years of Longing makes sense: it is an already familiar art; a capacity of presenting a viewpoint with genuine creativity, building things and placing people in it meaningfully, in a substantiated manner, and, what’s no less important, it all makes for another solid example of man’s capacity of understanding and being able to look with criticism at the unfair treatment of people on the basis of gender. Allow me, dear reader, to put emphasis on “solid” by quoting Tilda Swinton, when she was talking about the production of TTYoL: “He [George Miller] was all over every single detail, and for so long.”

Burcu Gölgedar and Idris Elba in Three Thousand Years of Longing

Burcu Gölgedar and Idris Elba in Three Thousand Years of Longing.

I have already reviewed a film earlier this year, where I thought the storytelling could be linked to peculiarities of linguistics in general; Three Thousand Years of Longing is another film, which has the potential of winning hearts of linguists, writers and basically everyone who works with the written and spoken word. Elba’s Djinn is a master storyteller, and Swinton’s Alithea is, as mentioned previously, a narratologist. TTYoL is essentially a lesson in storytelling. What makes it different from a lot of other great storytelling examples in cinema is its smooth and sublime sailing through a number of various genres: fantasy, historical fiction and romantic drama. At no point does the sailing feel like it’s left the waters of a coherent story or sailed outside the artwork itself. Spellbinding work.

Idris Elba in Three Thousand Years of Longing

Idris Elba in Three Thousand Years of Longing.

On a final note, think what you will of me googling the name of George Miller, but the experience of watching a film like TTYoL without knowing anything about it is imo one of the best cinema experiences anyone can have.

Peer Ynt

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peerynt
peerynt

Translator, interpreter turned small time investor and crypto enthusiast during the Covid pandemic. Areas that interest me: visual arts, writing, history; everything you see in a good horror film.


Whizzing Tripod
Whizzing Tripod

Whizzing Tripod is a blog title inspired by the novel "War of the Worlds", written by H. G. Wells back in the 19th century. I consider it to be a phenomenal piece of written word from every angle - the choice of the style of storytelling; the core idea (aliens) and how realistically it's presented; the portrayal of people as well as aliens; the conflict and how it develops throughout the story; the machines! On my blog I just publish some occasional rants.

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