Mustang

Mustang is a 2015 Turkish-language drama film co-written and directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven in her feature debut. Set at an unspecified time in the 2010s in a remote Turkish village, Mustang depicts the lives of five young orphaned sisters and the challenges they face growing up as girls in a conservative society. The event that triggers the family backlash against the five sisters at the beginning of the film is based on Ergüven's personal life. Mustang is an international co-production of France, Germany and Turkey. It premiered at the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Europa Cinemas Label Award. Mustang was selected as France's submission and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards. It received nine nominations at the 41st César Awards and won four, for First Feature Film, Original Screenplay, Editing and Original Music. Mustang has received widespread critical praise. Plot Lale, the youngest of five sisters, bids a farewell at school to her teacher, who is moving to Istanbul. The sisters decide to walk home instead of taking a van. Along the way, they play a game of "chicken fight" at the beach with their male classmates. At home, their grandmother hits them for their having bodily contact with boys and thus "pleasuring themselves" with them. Their uncle Erol is equally furious. From then on, the girls are forbidden from leaving the house. They feel stifled as their grandmother tries to make them suitable for marriage. When in public they must now dress in drab, conservative clothing. Instead of attending school, they must stay home and learn how to cook, clean and sew from their female relatives. Even so, the oldest sister, Sonay, sneaks out occasionally to meet her lover.