Night Of Silence review

In deepest Anatolia, a 60-year-old killer newly released from jail is married off by his tribal elders to a 13-year-old girl.

After a boisterous wedding prologue the ill-matched pair are left to face the night together in one small room.

Treating what could be a deeply distasteful subject with subtlety and restraint, Reis Çelik’s intimate two-hander explores a fraught situation with sympathy and unexpected revelations, leading us to wonder just which of the newly-weds is really the more vulnerable.

Dilan Aksüt (bride) and İlyas Salman (groom) give quietly moving performances.