THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING
Cert 15, 108 mins
Available from November 21 on download and streaming services, also available from November 21 on DVD
Starring: Tilda Swinton, Idris Elba, Aamito Lagum, Nicolas Mouawad, Ece Yuksel, Matteo Bocelli, Burcu Golgedar.
Narratologist Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) travels from London to Istanbul for a conference, armed with a passion for the history of storytelling.
In the bustle of the Grand Bazaar she purchases a delicately twisted blue and white glass bottle.
Back at her hotel, in the same room that Agatha Christie supposedly wrote Murder On The Orient Express, Alithea cleans dirt from the stopper with an electric toothbrush.
In a cloud of computer-generated smoke and static, an ancient Djinn (Idris Elba) is unleashed and promises to grant three wishes.
Well-versed in cautionary tales, Alithea refuses the Djinn’s tantalising offer and asks questions instead.
Consequently, the spirit spins three yarns, weaving together the romance of Sheba (Aamito Lagum) and Solomon (Nicolas Mouawad), the tragic ambitions of a concubine (Ece Yuksel) and her prince (Matteo Bocelli), and the frustrations of a Turkish merchant’s wife (Burcu Golgedar).
Three Thousand Years Of Longing is a visual effectsladen fantasy loosely adapted from AS Byatt’s short story The Djinn In The Nightingale’s Eye.
Infused with hope and beauty, Miller’s dazzling yet flawed vision distils familiar tropes in technically ambitious flourishes and couldn’t wish for more lavish or lustrous production design.
In that respect, the film is a slice of Turkish delight. Performances play second fiddle to eye-popping visuals including blood-soaked battle sequences in the 17th century Ottoman Empire and artfully staged bathhouse nudity.
Some of the digital trickery might wish for a polish and on-screen chemistry between the leads only achieves a polite fizz, but Miller’s directorial brio is wondrous. (DS)