The Ambassador's Daughter

Portrait.

Engin Akyürek, through his spine-shivering acting, brings the story to a whole different level.

Sefirin Kizi Series 2019/2020 by Emre Kabakusak ( Engin as Sancar Efeoglu).

So much has been said about the actor Engin Akyürek. His characters appear at first sight as quite ordinary: cop, peasant, businessman, artist, blacksmith, student and are very much anchored into Turkey everyday life and culture. The stories often talk about social and political issues (Kara papa Ask, Fatmagül, Bir bulut Olsam, Olene Kadar ) with lots of suspense and usually sustained by a passionate epic love story. Intelligent, well built screenplays and filming, indeed a good entertaining cinema.

However, Engin Akyürek, through his spine-shivering acting, brings the story to a whole different level. Filmmakers and cameramen sense it no doubt, who come close to his face, to try and capture the internal shifts of his heart, what comes out of him, when he is acting.

To pay tribute to his talent, you need to take the dust off the words, carve them like you would for gold, come closer, celebrate on paper his shimmering presence.

He is a free spirit in the world of Turkish series. Originally from Ankara, no doubt a child of his own culture, yet, his soul-searching acting is universal, he speaks to each of us. His latest serie, Sefirin Kizi ( the ambassador's daughter) by Emra Kabakusak reveals the actor evolution and psychological maturity.

In my eyes, and very much so in Serifrin Kizi, he takes after the great actors of the silent movie era (Joan of Arc by Karl Dreyer is a good example). Those movies beautifully expressed the character's inner feelings, in a visual poetic way. This is exactly what Engin does, this is his secret. His eyes speak of joy, love, pain, doubt, despair, anger. Intense, he blazes out of the screen, and suddenly, what seemed ordinary or familiar, turns into shimmering light. It takes a star to carry a close up.

I want to portray how he gracefully takes us with him into such emotional depths and how those feelings, like shooting stars, fly from the film set, straight into our heart, leaving us speechless.

Watching him act, is like reading a landscape. Lyrical when he performs, in his acting I see windy islands, rivers, steep slopes, spring softness, dark thunders, sinking boats, storms, starry skies. When Sancar is happy, his soul shines, when he sinks into murderous fury, the dark lakes of his eyes speak of death.

The slightest palpitation on his face, a shiver on his lip and he is back into torment or joy. His whisper a birdsong, his screaming pain, an earth tremor. The distance between him and us so thin, he is a fabulous interpreter of the human soul. He sheds a light on our vulnerability, emotions, torments, what we, vulnerable human beings feel, when confronted to others, when we love.

I do not know where his vital energy, his inner strength come from. Maybe in his life, away from the camera, when he is silent, looking into his soul, maybe when he catches the sound of the wind in the trees, the song of the sea or when he walks with his own people, catching feelings and moods around him. Whatever he does, the result on the screen is mesmerising. He comes back to us, ardent, passionate dark and glowing. A generous, outstanding actor. Visual poet, he sails in the high winds, taking us in his wake.

( Translation from French ) ©Cathie Hubert 2020 Artist, author, designer, French teacher.