Head On

A portrait of passionate, all-consuming love born out of desperation.
-MIAMI HERALD
Love does not just hurt in the jagged German romance Head-On""; it cuts and bleeds and even kills.""
-Manohla Dargis, NEW YORK TIMES
Raw, impassioned and provocative, German drama Head-On"" lives up to its title in its opening minutes, as angry alcoholic Cahit deliberately drives his car into a wall. This failed suicide attempt brings him together with Sibel, the equally desperate daughter of strict Muslim Turks, who begs Cahit to join her in a marriage of convenience. Soon enough, though, faked feelings turn real in a film that is part comedy, part tragedy and filled with a sense of edgy surprise.""
-Matthew Leyland, BBC
Un film percutant, une séance d électrochoc comme nous en propose trop rarement le cinema.
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Une oeuvre ambitieuse, originale, pleine de passions défoulées.
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Un conte passionné. Porté par les prestations remarquables des deux têtes d affiche. Un film aussi fiévreux qu étonnant.
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Synopsis

Cahit is a German Turk in his late 30's. He has given up with his life after his beloved wife's death, and he's living a miserable life right in the core of cocaine and excessive drinking. One night, he semi-intentionally crashes into a wall, and barely survives. At the hospital he's taken to, he meets a girl, Sibel, another German Turk who's tried to commit suicide. She's sick and tired of her family's ultra-traditional issues, and asks Cahit to carry out a white marriage with her out of the blue, so that she can become a married woman and get rid of her family's revolting pressure. Cahit is turned off by the idea at first, but then he agrees to take part in this plan. As Sibel tells him straightaway that she's interested in absolute freedom involving other men and he agrees, they live as roommates with separate private lives for a while. Then things take a different turn, and they're no longer two indifferent roommates. But their love story won't be anywhere as simple as any other...

Theatrical Release Date

Original Languages: German/Turkish/English
Genre: Drama, World Cinema
Running Time: 121 min.
Year: 2004

CREDITS

CAST
Birol Ünel
Sibel Kekilli
DIRECTED BY
Fatih Akin

PHOTOS

Left to right: Birol Ünel as Cahit Tomruk and Sibel Kekilli as Sibel Güner
Sibel Kekilli as Sibel Güner
Top to bottom: Birol Ünel as Cahit Tomruk and Sibel Kekilli as Sibel Güner
Birol Ünel as Cahit Tomruk
Left to right: Birol Ünel as Cahit Tomruk and Sibel Kekilli as Sibel Güner
Left to right: Birol Ünel as Cahit Tomruk and Sibel Kekilli as Sibel Güner
Sibel Kekilli as Sibel Güner
Birol Ünel as Cahit Tomruk