Sydney Film Festival: Mustang

Winner of a Cannes Directors' Fortnight prize, four Césars and an Oscar nomination, this Turkish gem is a powerful portrait of sisterhood.

The Turkish coming-of-age drama Mustang is a tale of control. As five sisters are told their budding sexuality is “lude” and shameful, they are stripped of all conscious choices as they are told what to wear (brown formless gowns “the colour of shit”), how to cook and clean, whom to marry. The house essentially becomes a wife factory.

The film challenges views on what it’s like to be a modern woman growing up when you have cultural principles thrust upon you. Where women must be chaste and pure, where femininity is constantly reduced to sexuality. It’s about escaping the life ruled by gender constraints. The film is called Mustang for a reason; when you try to domesticate a wild horse it is only a matter of time before the horse is going to buck and break free.