Wild Pear Trees, Patrimonial Legacies: Father-Son Relationship in Nuri Bilge Ceylan's The Wild Pear Tree

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2019.233

Keywords:

Film, Cinema, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, The Wild Pear Tree, the Boredom of Provincial Life, Psychoanalysis, Oedipus Complex, Paternal Function, Paternal Imago, Jacques Lacan

Abstract

This article analyzes the father-son relationship in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s latest film The Wild Pear Tree (2018), which tells the story of a son who desires a life as unlike his father’s narrow, provincial life as possible, only to find himself following in his father’s footsteps almost against his will. Drawing upon Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis, this article examines the film as an oedipal drama that portrays the predicament of a son who grapples with an ineffectual, humiliated father that fails to embody the paternal function. It undertakes to show how the father-son conflict eventually culminates in the father’s transformation from an object of contempt into an identificatory ideal for his son, who becomes heir to a legacy of disillusionment and thwarted hopes.

Author Biography

Coşkun Liktor

Dr. Coşkun Liktor is a film critic based in Istanbul, Turkey. He received his Ph.D. in Cinema and Media Research from Bahçeşehir University. Until recently he worked as an Assistant Professor at Haliç University. He is a regular contributor to Altyazı Monthly Cinema journal. He has published academic articles in peer-reviewed international journals such as Sinecine and Moment Journal.

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Published

2020-12-03

How to Cite

Liktor, C. (2020). Wild Pear Trees, Patrimonial Legacies: Father-Son Relationship in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s The Wild Pear Tree. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 8(2), 119–149. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2019.233

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 2 (2020): Fall 2020

Section

Articles

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