Ada

Island (Ada) (translated)

Movie · 1988 · 3 people

Süreyya Duru directed Ada (The Island), a Turkish film from 1988. Counted as a drama, emotional and psychological picture, it was shot in colour on 35 mm and opened on 18 April 1988. Türkân Şoray and Rutkay Aziz share the lead roles. Adapted from Peride Celal's story of the same name, it deals with marriage and love.

The story follows a husband and wife who separated ten years earlier and come together to settle accounts. The woman is Eser, played by Türkân Şoray, and Rutkay Aziz plays her former husband. Nilüfer Açıkalın plays Eser's daughter, while Ekrem Dümer and Deniz Dümer play her parents. The cast also includes Orhan Alkan (Eser's friend), Tuncay Akça (İsmail) and Macit Koper, who also wrote the screenplay, as a fisherman. Filming took place on Burgazada, the island that is both the setting and the title of the film.

The screenplay is by Macit Koper. Süreyya Duru produced the film, with Murat Film as the production company. Doğan Canku composed the music and Salih Dikişçi shot it, with Su Yücel as art director. A sad story lies behind the film as well: director Süreyya Duru died of a heart attack just as he was about to finish the final scenes.

DirectorSüreyya Duru
Production companyMurat Film

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Cast

Through different eyes

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

Watching Türkân Şoray in her mature years, in such an inward role, is a feeling of its own. Adapted from Peride Celal's story, Ada tells of a husband and wife who separated ten years ago and now settle accounts, with a quiet, broken sadness rather than noise. Burgazada's stillness suits the story's spirit so well that the island becomes almost a third character. Rutkay Aziz strikes a dignified balance opposite Şoray. Instead of the grand passions of the classic Şoray films, there is a quieter, wearier love here, and it touches you somewhere quite different.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Ada sets the reckoning of two people who split up ten years ago on Burgazada and makes the place part of the narrative: the island becomes both a closed world and a mirror the characters cannot escape. A story of this kind naturally leans on dialogue and performance, and the plot stays thin; it suits viewers after inner tension rather than outward movement. Salih Dikişçi's images bring out the island's texture, and Doğan Canku's music accompanies the emotion without smothering it. Türkân Şoray and Rutkay Aziz have the maturity to carry the weight of a worn-out relationship. Knowing that director Süreyya Duru died just as he was about to finish the final scenes is worth keeping in mind when weighing the film as a whole.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

Honestly, Ada isn't my genre. Two former spouses meeting years later to settle accounts means psychological drama, and that means plenty of talk and silence; for anyone after pace, the film comes close to a standstill at times. There's tension in the scenes between Türkân Şoray and Rutkay Aziz, I'll give it that, but if you're waiting for an explosion, don't. It's for psychological drama fans, not for people like me.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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