Strong and Moving!

Excellent but underrated film

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Though disloyal to the original theatrical script, this very remake of "7 Husbands for Hürmüz" is one of the most hilarious remake of the Turkish musical classic. Director Ezel Akay's creative depiction of Ottoman Istanbul, Gülse Birsel's unprecedented self-esteem and lucid acting and Nurgül Yeşilçay's charm offer you an uninterrupted entertainment of 2 hours. The story evolves around 7 different men from 7 different ethnic and social backgrounds in Ottoman Turkey, wherein each of them fell in love with beautiful Hürmüz, who successfully manipulates and utilize them for her own good. At one instance, however, the men start realizing that Hürmüz is duping each and everyone of them. Unfortunately, the script is immensely embedded with equivocations, imitations and accent jokes, which might constitute a rather dull lost-in-translation script for non-Turkish speakers. The movie is unlikely be a milestone for Turkish cinema, nevertheless, it was definitely one of the most colorful, cheerful and best movies made in 2009.

Yet again too much for its audience, who are not able to break their dogmatic historical beliefs. Previous title from Ezop (Ezel AKAY), was a silver-screen remake of infamous shadow theater play, Hacivat and Karagöz suffered the same reaction. Turkish people are not ready to deal with the image of history in their minds, not ready to accept that the historical characters had their own lives. Movie of Hacivat and Karagöz was , although hammered with realism of Osman Hamdi, a historical comedy. Most of the Jokes were inspired by daily lives of ordinary inhabitants of modern Turkey. Of course there would be inconveniences, the plot is 14th century Bursa, the inspirations about Ottoman lives were from 19th century painter(Osman Hamdi Bey) and lives of modern Turks. Most critics were stuck with warrior dresses of women corps (no hijab), let me tell you some more, coffee was not invented until 2 centuries later, and the best one till middle of 15th century Call to prayer was in Turkic(hope i am not insulting your beliefs). Why didn't anybody criticize this? Although i do not refuse poor performance of some actors,but the rest were superb.Critics about 7 kocalı Hürmüz, is surprisingly centered on costumes and decorations, which i fell in love at first sight. As much as Hacivat and Karagöz used realist aspects, 7 Kocalı Hürmüz used surrealism of Ottoman miniatures, which left a taste between Smurffs and Simpsons in my cerebrum. Especially 19th century Istanbul was hilarious(much unlike 1001 nights view a western audience would guess, a Turkish would demand), Costumes were extremely surrealist( except for old men in tea garden and handsome Medic),even German Pasha was a mere clown. But hey we are back to comedy genre.Ezel was mistaken in one point. Trade, mother of all evil, Turkish people wouldn't like(cos they wouldn't understand) such complexity in jokes, set and costume design, and reviewing history from an angle different than they "want to" imagine. They would want to see cheap productions(and cheapest humor) like Maskeli Besler. Another commercial failure for him and for Turkish Cinema. Perhaps i am looking from an engineer perspective(Ezel is also an engineer), I loved the movie as it is now, and i think both movie and sound track are a must have. It took me to my childhood, as if i was reading Alice in Wonderland, or an Ökkeş story once more, watching my favorite cartoons (not excluding Tom and Jerry), and the best songs from my baby brother. This is more valuable than priceless.

Before watching this movie I considered myself a fan of Ezel Akay and liked everything he was involved in creatively. "Neredesin Firuze" and "Karagöz ve Hacivat Neden Öldürüldü" were among my favorite movies. He seemed to get better with every project - that is until this disorganized flop."7 Kocali Hürmüz" is a well-known Turkish musical loved by generations. This 2009 remake is unworthy of it. This movie actually butchers, vandalizes, oversimplifies, and simply ruins that memory with awful acting, badly designed decor and costumes, but mostly with of a horrible screenplay riddled with witless lumpen humor.There are so many things to criticize in the movie, but still being a fan of Akay, I will cut it short and hope that he would learn from this debacle to get back on the right track. I suspect that his failure is partly caused by the creative involvement of Cem Özer and Nurgül Yesilcay, who are the pushers of the project.

"Seven Husbands for Hurmuz" tells the story of an alluring woman, Hurmuz (Nurgül Yeşilçay) who is living in Taşkasap, Istanbul. She is unofficially married to six guys of different occupations each of whom she hosts on different days of the week. By refusing them the nuptial bliss in her bed, she shanghais them into giving her expensive presents to live on easy terms. One day ,Hurmuz happens to see the local doctor Hüsrev (Mehmet Ali Alabora) while she is at the barbershop of one of her husbands. On feigning illness, she asks for the doctor. When the doctor falls in love with her too, he wants her mother to ask for the hand of Hurmuz. At a night on which all the husbands will get together by fluke, Hurmuz and her confidante Safinaz (Gülse Birsel) will find themselves in a chaos. Ezey Akay likes to treat traditional Turkish folk characters in his movies. He has done it many times like he has treated Hacivat and Karagoz in his own way. When you watch a movie by him you know that he has re-created the setting in his own. I mean, let's say you are watching Hacivat and Karagoz somehow you will notice that 13th century Ottomans would not be that way. In this one you see the same thing. In an Ottoman Istanbul where law is taken care of by a qadi (chief judge) the women would never be like that. Even if you are conscious of this fact you can still have fun with Ezel Akay movies--with all the clever dialogs, with all the visual pageantry beautiful costumes offer,subtle humor etc..But this one lacks some "je ne sais pas". The humor is not subtle. You could even say it's dry and deadpan. It would serve right if they did laughter voice-overs. Even if it's a story you may know well, there is nothing you may be surprised or find intriguing. Moreover, a movie with a star-studded cast should have included better and more refined dialogs. Imagine a movie which you fill half of it with the stutters of a barber which lead only to risqué jokes. All in all, if you expect this movie should be any good because of the name "Ezel Akay" then it will turn out to be a total damp squib for you!