Love affair with self-destruction
“If you want to end your life, end it. You don’t have to kill yourself to do that.”
Some movie couples do not marry for love. Some marry for citizenship, others for tax breaks. Whatever the case, in time, he and she fall in love. They live happily ever after. The Fatih Akin film, Head-On, is not that kind of fairy tale.
Head-on tells the story of a good-for-nothing, middle-aged wino who makes a living by picking up bottles at a club and a frustrated young woman from a conservative Turkish family. Depressed and eager to escape, Sibel convinces Cahit to marry her.
It takes some cajoling and wrist-slitting, but Cahit reluctantly agrees. After all, she promises to help him share the cost of living and to tidy up his filthy residence.
After their extravagant, traditional wedding, Sibel keeps her promise and lives with Cahit, not as a wife, but as his roommate. Her married status removes her from her parents’ and brother’s watchful eyes. She darkens her make-up, wears more suggestive clothing, and goes home with whomever she pleases.
While they both sleep with others, Cahit’s other love affairs are merely a means for him to relieve tension and to express a startling new emotion: happiness. Sibel’s girly décor, cooking talent, and free-spirited nature bring out the best in Cahit, a gloomy, volatile creature.
Unfortunately, Cahit and Sibel are too similar for it to work. Cahit brings out Sibel’s repressed longings. And the result of this newfound freedom is nothing but pain.
Beyond having an unorthodox beginning, Cahir and Sibel’s sort-of romance is, despite the gradual feelings, a marriage of convenience. She cleans his apartment and he helps her “to live, to dance, to fuck.”
“If you’re thirsty, you should drink water,” Cahit’s friend advises him.
Cahit does not save Sibel from her self-destructive ways. Rather, he takes her from one bottomless pit to another. An arguably far worse one than the one she had tried to escape from by wedding him.
She gives him a second chance at love, but he in turn introduces her to drugs and partying. Soon the draw of sweaty nightclubs, powdery substances, and sexually attractive men becomes too much for Sibel.
Initially, Sibel and Cahit seemed as different as night and day. But really, they are almost the same person.
Cahit’s feelings seem real, but Sibel’s appear to be nothing more than a mixture of gratitude and friendly affection. Her greatest love and hatred is for herself.
Marrying Cahit, to run away from her problems, is like drinking alcohol instead of water when thirsty.
While there are some tender moments, I have yet to be convinced about the depth and reciprocity of their love.
Henry said,
February 18, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Relationships are always complicated–even if they’re enjoyable. It seems like this film focuses on just how different and similar couples can be. I might just have to check it out.