Ara (film)
2008 film by Ümit Ünal

Ara is a 2008 Turkish drama film directed by Ümit Ünal, starring Erdem Akakçe, Betül Çobanoğlu, Serhat Tutumluer, and Selen Uçer, all originally stage actors.
The film's plot spans a decade and evolves around the relations of two middle class, urban couples, Veli and Selda, Veli's business partner Ender and Gül. Selda is romantically and sexually involved with Ender, while Gül and Veli are also in an extramarital relationship. The film examines Turkey's financial and cultural turmoils of the past 20 years through these four middle-class people who search for their own places and stances in society, and through their romantic, friendly and treacherous relations.
The film is set in a single apartment, however, because the plot spans a decade, and the apartment is used as a set for music videos, commercials or TV serials, those images seep into the film's imagery while the decoration of the house continuously changes throughout. The film was shot completely digitally in an 80 square meter (861 square feet) flat at the Kuledibi neighbourhood in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. The film's title "Ara" means "between", "space", "distance" in Turkish, and it is a reference to the main characters' "in between-ness" in society and their own relationships.
Plot
Ara tells the story of two couples over a period of about 10 years. The men are close friends, and so are their partners, thanks to them. One of the women, Gül, is half French half Turkish living in Istanbul.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4783090. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2008.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ara (film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.