Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Stuck Apart’ on Netflix, a Delightfully Oddball Turkish Comedy About a Man in a Midlife Crisis

Netflix movie Stuck Apart was written and directed by Turkish brothers Yagmur and Durul Taylan, notable for their film and TV work over the last two decades (including award-winning drama series Yabanci Damat). Known as Azizler in its native country, the new film is a comedy about aging, mortality and identity; it takes a minute or 10 to acclimate to the Taylans’ offbeat tone, but it’s ultimately worth sticking it out to see what they have to say.

STUCK APART: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Aziz (Engin Gunaydin) is an average middle-aged guy, sort of, with a perfectly fine job, some close friends and a reasonably comfortable life. On the surface, at least. He’s restless in his four-year relationship with Burcu (Irem Sak), and practices his I-want-to-spend-some-time-apart speech before meeting her in a cafe — but before he can get to the I-want-to-spend-some-time-apart part, she asks why he’s not wearing the necklace she gave him, then asks why he’s not wearing the necklace she gave him, then asks why he’s not wearing the necklace she gave him, then asks why he’s not wearing the necklace she gave him. She’s stuck. She sits in that cafe chair, asking why he’s not wearing the necklace she gave him for the rest of the movie. He gets up, leaves, does some stuff, occasionally checks back in, and there she sits, asking the empty air why he’s not wearing the necklace she gave him.

This is Aziz’s existence right now.

His friends — co-workers at an unidentified business with a fancy modern office where Aziz works as a CGI artist making viral videos — are an interesting bunch. Alp (Uner Erkan) is a rich playboy-type with a swank house; he invites Aziz to a party, and after Aziz leaves, we see Alp pay the DJ, bartender, even all the girls in attendance, to be there, like extras in a movie. Aziz’s conversations with Cevdet (Fatih Artman) are surreal; they exchange dialogue, but it’s often about two different topics entirely. More pertinent to the story is Erbil (Haluk Bilginer), an aging widower who always seems charmingly bewildered; the character is subject of a lengthy and significant third-act side story, where he deals with an ailment, a workplace crush for a constantly smoking woman and converses with his late wife (Binnur Kaya), speaking from beyond via a photograph taped to his refrigerator.

Aziz’s unsettled feelings also stem from his desire to be alone for a change. His apartment is also home to his sister, brother-in-law and pertinacious young nephew, whose ethical dubiousness and strongarm personality makes you believe he might be a mobster-in-training. He opened his home to them when they faced financial hardship. So, no peace there for Aziz either. Alp gives him the keys to his sprawling bachelor pad, and he takes advantage of the plush bedclothes and luxe bathtub, but it’s no answer, just a temporary solace, partly because he’s halfway from birth and halfway to death and Erbil is in flux and poor Burcu sits in a holding pattern in the cafe, asking why he’s not wearing the necklace she gave him.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Stuck Apart strikes a tone somewhere between subtly absurdist Coen Brothers stuff like A Serious Man — minus the cynicism, mind you — and the less-weird elements of Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Delicatessen.

Performance Worth Watching: Bilginer is quite extraordinary as a man profoundly lost in the fog of grief; Erbil’s character arc is the heart of the film, grounding its surreal elements in tangible emotion.

Memorable Dialogue: A perfect example of the film’s elliptical, almost nonsensical exchanges:

(Aziz searches Erbil’s house for the lost necklace.)

Erbil: Maybe the cat played with it.

Aziz: Do you have a cat?

Erbil: No. But I want to have a cat.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: With Stuck Apart, the Taylans show little interest in the type of conventional narratives and broad comedy that usually accompany portraits of men in midlife crises. Its peculiar rhythms are puzzling at first, but they become endearing once we better understand Aziz’s existential conundrum. When you don’t feel like yourself — or enough of your usual self, I guess, because who out there is ever fully certain about the stuff of their identity? — the world just doesn’t seem right, as if there’s a hitch in reality’s giddyup, or a slight wobble in the Earth’s spin.

The Taylans’ screenplay is understated and clever without being cloying or winking or overly indulgent. They find fresh, funny and/or empathetic angles on familiar characters such as the hectoring girlfriend, the precocious kid, the doddering old man. The film feels like an experiment in narrative form, nonlinear and rife with rich tangents and strange dream sequences — and it’s a successful one, finding comedy and human drama in Aziz and his life’s supporting cast and his psychological pains and predicaments. I don’t know if everything adds up cohesively or coherently, or if it’s even supposed to, because when does actual life really ever do that? I see Stuck Apart as an amusing, poignant portrait of a man who’s maybe just weathering the storms and holding out for the sunshine, wisely not solving problems, but rather, enduring them.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Stuck Apart covers familiar material but with an inspired streak of originality. It’s light, but thoughtful, and a pleasant surprise.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream Stuck Apart on Netflix