The Edge of Heaven (2007)
"Auf der anderen Seite" (original title)

A Turkish man travels to Istanbul to find the daughter of his father's former girlfriend.

Director:

Fatih Akin

Writer:

Fatih Akin

Stars:

Baki Davrak, Gürsoy Gemec, Gengiz Daner

27 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Baki Davrak	...	Nejat Aksu
Gürsoy Gemec	...	Sohn des Tankstelleninhabers
Gengiz Daner	...	Tankstelleninhaber
Tuncel Kurtiz	...	Ali Aksu
Nursel Köse	...	Yeter Öztürk
Nurgül Yesilçay	...	Ayten Öztürk
Idil Üner	...	Ärztin
Erkan Can	...	Cousin Ufuk
Turgay Tanülkü	...	Cem
Elcim Eroglu	...	Elcim
Nurten Güner	...	Nurten
Asuman Altinay	...	Türkan
Gökhan Kirac	...	Junger Polizeibeamter
Nejat Isler	...	Kommissar
Lars Rudolph	...	Herr Obermüller

Storyline

Nejat seems disapproving about his widower father Ali's choice of prostitute Yeter for a live-in girlfriend. But he grows fond of her when he discovers she sends money home to Turkey for her daughter's university studies. Yeter's sudden death distances father and son. Nejat travels to Istanbul to search for Yeter's daughter Ayten. Political activist Ayten has fled the Turkish police and is already in Germany. She is befriended by a young woman, Lotte, who invites rebellious Ayten to stay in her home, a gesture not particularly pleasing to her conservative mother Susanne. When Ayten is arrested and her asylum plea is denied, she is deported and imprisoned in Turkey. Lotte travels to Turkey,where she gets caught up in the seemingly hopeless situation of freeing Ayten.

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Plot Keywords:

germany | police | death | prostitute | jail | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Offical Site [tr] Official site [de]

Country:

Germany Turkey Italy

Language:

German Turkish English

Release Date:

27 September 2007 (Germany)

Also Known As:

The Edge of Heaven

Filming Locations:

Bremen, Germany

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$18,593 (USA) (23 May 2008)

Gross:

$741,283 (USA) (10 October 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anka Film, BKM, Dorje Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Nurgül Yesilçay - who is a big star in her native Turkey - had doubts about taking on the part of Ayten as she wasn't sure how audiences would react to seeing her as a revolutionary lesbian.

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Goofs

When the Lotte is driving through Bremen, she passes a bus in which Jeter (Jessy) and Baki were sitting after visiting Baki's father in the hospital. The first time we see them sitting in the bus, they are sitting together in the same seat. When Lotte passes the bus, they are sitting opposite of each other.

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Quotes

story: After telling the story of Abraham that was willing to sacrifice his son, Ismael, to show God his obedience. Before Abraham could slay his son God sent a lamb to sacrifice instead.
Nejat Aksu: I asked my dad if he would have sacrificed me as well.
Susanne Staub: And what did he say?
Nejat Aksu: That he would even make an enemy of God to protect me.

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Crazy Credits

Towards the end of the credits, details about the book Nejat gives to his father are given (it's a Turkish translation of "Die Tochter des Schmieds" by Selim Özdogan) with a request to read it: "Lest dieses Buch, Leute!" ("Read this book, people!") Selim Özdogan is a friend of Fatih Akin.

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Connections

Featured in Fatih Akin - Tagebuch eines Filmreisenden (2007)

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Soundtracks

"Sahara Blues"
Written by Mario Tronco
Performed by L'Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio

User Reviews

"this my friend, this is cinema!"

many of us who watched or are thinking about watching Faith Akin's latest film are most probably turning to it after being impressed by his more than amazing Head-On which i personally love! To avoid disappointment, besides the tag line which seems pretty similar these two movies are not very much alike. The best would be to take 'TEOH' as what it is and not as "Head-On the sequel".

the movie tells us the story of a young Turkish professor who lives and most probably grew up in Germany, and now decides to set on a journey back to his hometown to find the daughter of his father's new girlfriend. as it turns out finding someone in a foreign country is not that easy, and as such there are many emotions and surprises involved.

what especially stands out are the cinematography which presents a beautiful and colorful Turkey and the direction which is nothing less than superb! although there are no big names in the cast, as a whole it performed a great job, especially by Nurgul Yesilcay who portrayed the looked for daughter and Hanna Schygulla who portrayed the mother of this daughter's lover.

for me, just as it was a great movie it could have been a great book, especially because of the ending that no matter how hard i tried just didn't let me get this movie out of my head. in an interview i've seen of the newly internationally acclaimed and appreciated director he mentions Emir Kustorica and also confesses how after making Head-On he thought he knew one or two things about cinema and how now after making The Edge Of Heaven he knows that nor he nor many others have any idea what cinema really is. He ends by quoting Mr. Kustorica after watching TEOH saying "this my friend, this is cinema."

highly recommended to anyone who...to everyone!