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A Bunch Of Violets (Bir Demet Menekşe)

A Bunch Of Violets (Bir Demet Menekşe)

Movie · 1973 · 7 people

Opening on 1 October 1973, Bir Demet Menekşe (A Bunch of Violets) is a Yeşilçam melodrama shot in colour. The 74-minute film was directed by Zeki Ökten from a screenplay by the literary figure Selim İleri and produced by Berker İnanoğlu for Er Film. It tells a familiar Turkish-cinema subject in an unusual way, with easy, flowing narration.

Nesrin is a young seamstress at a boutique in Nişantaşı who lives with her bedridden mother and unmarried aunt and supports them since her father's death. While trying to sell a ring inherited from her mother to pay for a move to Germany, she meets Kenan Manizade, the owner of a paint factory. Wealthy yet unhappy in his marriage and among his circle, he is drawn to her despite the gaps in age and class, and the only gift between them is a bunch of violets. Gossip and social pressure test the bond. Hale Soygazi plays Nesrin and Kartal Tibet plays Kenan, with Nubar Terziyan as the jeweller Yakup and Güler Ökten as Candan. Şener Şen has a small part as a man at a party.

The theme is the instrumental "Paola, 11099", which Mikis Theodorakis composed for Costa-Gavras's État de siège. Ali Yaver was director of photography.

DirectorZeki Ökten
Production companyEr Film

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Cast

Şener Şen Şener Şen Actor · 84 years old Man at the Party Kartal Tibet Kartal Tibet Actor · died at 82 Kenan Manizade Hale Soygazi Hale Soygazi Actor · 76 years old Nesrin Nubar Terziyan Actor · died at 84 Yakup Güler Ökten Güler Ökten Film actor · 84 years old Candan Muammer Gözalan Muammer Gözalan Actor · died at 76 Man Playing Poker with Banu Suna Pekuysal Actor · died at 74

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Through different eyes

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

Selim İleri's pen, Zeki Ökten's direction and Hale Soygazi's fragile Nesrin: a rare meeting for anyone who loves Yeşilçam melodrama. The film takes our cinema's familiar story of a wealthy man and a poor girl, yet tells it simply and fluently, without drowning in tears. That the only gift between the two is a bunch of violets sums up the delicacy of the whole story. Theodorakis's "Paola" suits the film's sadness beautifully. Old films that fit so much feeling into 74 minutes never stop inspiring admiration.

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

The film's most interesting quality is that it builds its characters together with their class. Nesrin, a seamstress at a boutique in Nişantaşı, holds up a household with a bedridden mother and an aunt; Kenan, who owns a paint factory, is wealthy but unhappy. Nesrin trying to sell her mother's ring to pay her way to Germany captures, in a single detail, the hope of emigration in the early seventies. Gossip and social pressure show how neighbourhood culture can close in around a relationship. The gaps in age and class are the quietest but heaviest weight the film carries.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

Let me say it up front: this is not a film for children. It deals with a married man drawn to a young woman, with gossip and social pressure. Kids would find it both dull and hard to follow. For parents and grandparents who enjoy old films, though, it is a calm, heartfelt evening watch. It runs 74 minutes, short and easy going.

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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