Biyografi Dünyası
The Edge of Heaven (Auf der anderen Seite)

The Edge of Heaven (Auf der anderen Seite)

Movie · 2007 · 14 people

Between Head-On and The Cut comes The Edge of Heaven (Auf der anderen Seite; Turkish: Yaşamın Kıyısında), the second part of Fatih Akın's "Love, Death and the Devil" trilogy. Akın wrote and directed the German-Turkish-Italian drama, which premiered at Cannes on May 23, 2007, collecting the Best Screenplay and Ecumenical Jury prizes there, and later took the LUX Prize as well. It was Germany's Oscar entry but went unnominated. It reached Turkey on October 26, 2007.

The story follows six people from three families and two generations. Ali, a retired widower, proposes a paid arrangement to Yeter, a sex worker. His son Nejat, a professor of German literature, disapproves, but warms to her on learning she supports her daughter at university in Turkey. Yeter's death sends Nejat to Turkey to find that daughter, Ayten, a political activist who has slipped illegally into Germany. Student Lotte and her mother Susanne are drawn in. Tuncel Kurtiz, Baki Davrak, Nurgül Yeşilçay, Nursel Köse and Hanna Schygulla star.

The film has three chapters: the first set in Germany, the second moving between Turkey and Germany, and the last, named like the film, entirely in Turkey. Akın drew the characters from musicians he met in Istanbul while shooting the documentary Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul.

DirectorFatih Akın
Production companyCorazón International
The Edge of Heaven (Auf der anderen Seite) The Edge of Heaven (Auf der anderen Seite)

Reactions

You can pick up to 3 reactions.

Cast

Titles sharing this cast

More from this director

Through different eyes

AI-assisted editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives. They are not reader reviews; those are below.

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

Fatih Akın's film, which won Best Screenplay at Cannes, is built with real structural care. The three-chapter design starts in Germany, moves back and forth between Turkey and Germany, and settles entirely in Turkey for the last part; that geographic drift carries the characters' inner journeys too. In this second installment of the trilogy that began with Head-On, the script knots together the fates of six people from two generations and largely succeeds in making their intersections feel necessary, though a few connections show their design. Nursel Köse, Tuncel Kurtiz and Hanna Schygulla carry the film's emotional weight. A mature piece of work that rewards a patient viewer generously.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The Edge of Heaven looks at the ties between Germany and Turkey through the eyes of two generations. Ali, a retired widower; his son Nejat, now a professor of German literature; Yeter, working to support her university-student daughter in Turkey; and Ayten, a political activist who slips illegally into Germany: each stands for a different face of the movement between the two countries. The film brings generational distance, economic hardship and political flight into a single narrative, yet it does so through human relationships rather than by lecturing. Drawing Lotte and her mother Susanne into the story also takes the subject beyond the borders of one community and towards the relationship between two societies.

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

This one does not move at my speed. Three separate chapters, six characters and lives that connect slowly; the tension never explodes, it seeps in. Ayten being an activist who crosses into Germany illegally adds a sense of risk, but the film turns that into drama rather than thrills. It is a film for a calm night, not for an evening that wants speed.

Reviews (0)

Log in Log in to write a review.

Comments