Eine Geschichte von drei Schwestern

SISTERS is the story of three sisters from a poor village in Central Anatolia. The girls are given to affluent families as foster children in the hope of improving their lives. The middle sister, Nurhan (16), is handed over to the town’s doctor, Necati Bey (45). However, the older son, Özgur, still wets his bed every night and Nurhan has to wash his linen by hand every morning. Tired and angry with Özgur, she occasionally beats him. Once Özgur’s parents find out about the beating, they send Nurhan back to the village. The youngest of the sisters, Havva (13) lives at Turan Bey’s (40) house and looks after their youngest child, Metin, with all the love and affection she can muster. Metin is suffering from a deadly disease. Metin dies and, in spite of all her efforts to curry favour, Havva is sent back to the village. The oldest of the sisters, Gulsah (20), had been given to Necati Bey many years ago but was sent back to the village because she had become pregnant as a result of her so-called relationship with a pharmacy apprentice. When Gulsah returns home, her father Emin (50) hastily marries her off to the poor village shepherd Veysel (30). Not happy with the obligation of fathering Gulsah’s ‘’illegitimate baby’’ Gökhan, Veysel looks forward to having a baby.

Following Nurhan and Havva’s return, after many years the sisters are reunited. In one long night, the three sisters sit together and talk about their past experiences. Sometimes they chat with love and affection, but sometimes they harshly quarrel since they all want to go back to town, in competition with each other. On the same night, outside the village, Veysel, Emin and Necati are sitting around a fire at a long dinner table. The conversation goes on in an uneasy mood. Following a tense argument among men, Necati kicks Veysel. Veysel goes back home, out of rage and humiliation, spills the hot water from a boiling kettle over Gökhan. As Gökhan dies, Veysel vanishes into thin air.

A few months pass. Everything is buried under the snow. Havva waits for Necati to take her to the town since he decides to take her as the new foster child (instead of Nurhan). Nurhan’s illness, which manifested itself a few months earlier, has progressed. Nurhan also waits for Necati to come to the village and examine her, thinking he owes this to her. Gulsah is pregnant, and before going to the city to live with her aunt, she wants to abort Veysel’s baby. The three sisters wait for the roads to become passable. On a cold winter day, Emin and his daughters wait for Necati, tense but hopeful, chatting beside the fire.

(http://www.komplizenfilm.de/d/sisters.html)