Time to Love (1965)

For Mubi Monday this week, we are taking a look at a Turkish film that was recently restored by Mubi. Let’s get right to it and dive into…Time to Love (1965).

Title: Time to Love

Director: Metin Erksan

Released: October 9, 1965 (Turkey)

Runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes

Available to stream: Exclusively on Mubi (here’s a free month on me!)

Halil (Müşfik Kenter) is a painter who has become infatuated with the portrait of a woman, Meral (Sema Özcan) in a villa he is painting. Never mind the fact that he hasn’t ever actually met Meral. He has built up this version of her in his head, solely based off of this photo.

When Meral appears and they meet, Halil wants nothing to do with the real version of her. Meanwhile, she loves the idea of Halil being infatuated with her only from her portrait. Meral does everything she can to make Halil love the real version of her just as much as he does her portrait.

Despite her best efforts, Meral struggles to get Halil to express any sort of emotion or feelings for her. In fact, Halil explicitly tells Meral that he doesn’t have feelings for her, only for the version of her that exists in the portrait and in his head.

Will Halil learn to love the Meral that exists in physical form?

Or will Meral have to learn to accept that Halil will only ever love a fictionalized version of herself that exists solely in his mind?

When I discover a restored film, it immediately grabs my interest. You mean a movie was almost lost forever? Yes, I would very much like to see it. Because as you know, everything deserves at least one viewing.

I enjoy the idea of Time to Love (1965). An unconventional love triangle existing of a man, a woman, and the idea of the woman that the man has created in his head. Unfortunately, the idea wears thin long before we get to the end credits.

There are instances where, because of the music used and actions of the characters, I wasn’t quite sure if I was watching a parody of the genre or if I was to be taking things seriously.

Now, that’s not to say that there isn’t anything to enjoy here. In fact, the cinematography is absolutely outstanding. Time to Love (1965) looks incredible. The camera angles, the framing of each shot, the use of rain to help portray emotions, all are stunning and make this worth a watch.

If you haven’t seen Time to Love (1965), make sure you check it out at least once. When you see how beautiful the Mubi restoration looks, you’ll be glad you took the time.

So, now it’s your turn. If you’ve seen Time to Love (1965), I want to hear what you thought of it. Leave your thoughts in the comments below or let me know all about it on social media!

Curious to see what else I’ve been watching? Stay up to date with all my viewings over on Letterboxd.