Conviction Without Martyrdom

MOVIE REVIEWS
Yellow Letters (Gelbe Briefe)
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Genre: Drama, Political Drama, Family Drama
Year Released: 2026
Runtime: 2h 08m
Director(s): İlker Çatak
Writer(s): İlker Çatak, Ayda Meryem Çatak, Enis Köstepen
Cast: Özgü Namal, Tansu Biçer, Leyla Smyrna Cabas, İpek Bilgin
Where to Watch: shown at the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival

RAVING REVIEW: What happens to a family when punishment appears without explanation, without appeal, and without a face to confront? In YELLOW LETTERS, Director İlker Çatak returns to the theme of institutional authority he first explored in THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE (an Oscar-nominated film, and one of my favorites of that year), this time looking outwards at how State Power erodes lives through paperwork, silence, and apathy. Rather than focusing on chaos or violence, Çatak illustrates how the State disintegrates the structure of families quietly and with impunity. The title YELLOW LETTERS represents the film's approach to depicting how State Authority operates to erase lives. These letters aren’t bold declarations of intent, but are instead tools designed to silently eliminate the very existence of those who have been targeted.

At the start of YELLOW LETTERS, we see Derya and Aziz, a couple in Ankara (the capital city), as part of an elite artistic community in Turkey. They’ve built a reputation as artists, have jobs, and have enough security to believe that their art is relevant. However, following a relatively minor incident at the premiere of their play, the couple's illusions begin to crumble. What follows isn’t a police crackdown or imprisonment. Yet we see a complete breakdown of their economic foundation, leaving them jobless, evicted from their home, and essentially exiled from their profession. The reason for their punishment is never articulated (directly), and that ambiguity creates so much anxiety and unease throughout the film.

Rather than follow the couple back to Ankara, the film moves them to Istanbul, to Aziz's mother's flat, and establishes the city as both a sanctuary and a painful reminder of their loss of status. Unlike many other films that use cities like Istanbul as a backdrop for romance and wonder, Çatak depicts the city as chaotic, noisy, unforgiving, and completely indifferent to the couple's plight. He deliberately avoids romanticizing the city and instead uses it to illustrate the isolation and desperation that Derya and Aziz now experience.

Özgü Namal provides a poignant portrayal of Derya, a woman forced to confront the collapse of her idealized world as she navigates the realities of making ends meet. Rather than portray her efforts to find financial stability as empowering, the film presents them as necessary, as a re-evaluation of who she is and what she believes in, in light of her inability to survive solely based on her convictions. Namal's acting style is always understated, and her character's emotions slowly build, layer upon layer, without ever feeling forced or contrived. She brings depth and nuance to every moment she appears on screen.

Tansu Biçer portrays Aziz as a man whose beliefs are rigid and whom he refuses to abandon, even though they are destroying the family's future—the film neither judges nor excuses Aziz. Biçer portrays Aziz's inflexibility as both a source of strength and a weakness, and YELLOW LETTERS doesn’t shy away from acknowledging how self-righteousness can lead to neglect.

The most heart-wrenching performances come from the youngest member of the family, 13-year-old Ezgi (Leyla Smyrna Cabas). The director never portrays Ezgi as symbolic, but he does understand that children experience trauma differently from adults. Ezgi's gradual withdrawal from her parents, her confusion, and her increasing emotional detachment from both of them are portrayed with great sensitivity and restraint. The film acknowledges that when adults debate values and survival, children often learn to be silent first.

One reason YELLOW LETTERS is so powerful is that it never seeks to externalize the conflict. The State is present, but mostly invisible. There are no major confrontations, no passionate speeches about freedom. Instead, the film focuses on small negotiations, such as deciding whether to accept certain work, whether to speak out, and whether to compromise to continue existing.

Judith Kaufmann's cinematography supports this emotional compression by using close-ups to create a feeling of claustrophobia. Conversations are frequently interrupted before they reach any conclusion, creating uncertainty. Kaufmann's camera observes, rather than editorializes, allowing discomfort to linger. Gesa Jäger's editing is deliberate in its pacing, mirroring the slow erosion caused by the State's bureaucratic machinery, and never rushes the audience toward a resolution the story has refused to provide.

The script of YELLOW LETTERS is strongest when it allows contradictory ideas to exist side by side. Derya's practicality is neither a betrayal nor a liberation. Aziz's commitment is neither noble nor foolish. The fragmentation of the family is the result of prolonged pressure with no release. YELLOW LETTERS understands that political oppression rarely manifests loudly but instead seeps into everyday life, until family relationships bear the burden of systemic injustice.

As the film reaches its final act, there is no resolution in the way you would expect, only a shrinking list of options, and a reckoning with the true nature of endurance. The film is an exercise in restraint, intelligence, and morality, trusting the audience to tolerate the discomfort of its subject matter, rather than resolving it immediately. Çatak offers a haunting, quietly persuasive film that illustrates how power dismantles lives not through spectacle but through persistent, patient indifference.

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