It’s red with reality; it’s chambered in secrets. You will see corpses breathe and feel its chill; you will watch demons resurrect and feel its heat. Kırmızı Oda breaks you before it mends you. It drains you before it fills you. Meliha (Evrim Alsya) asks, can a human be both broken and relieved at the same time? Yes, you will need strong will, an open heart, and lots of tissue boxes as you enter the “Red Room” of Monolic Clinic to feel every possible situation, secret, and emotion a human mind and heart can encounter, endure and dissemble.
A first-of-its-kind, this original psychological drama series by OGM Pictures, based on a book by the famed Turkish author Dr. Gülseren Budayıcıoğlu, will grip any viewer with the tangled secrets, conditions, and circumstances of human life and compel one to delve into the real-life-based stories explored throughout the series to the point of even holding oneself accountable.
Kırmızı Oda fits perfectly into the current milieu especially with the entire world going through a tough season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The globe is discussing a new normal and this is where the temporal importance of airing Kırmızı Oda comes into play. The series attempts to shift our attention to centuries-old norms that need to be addressed more and change, issues surrounding domestic violence and mental health.
Kırmızı Oda deals with the diverse and particular forms of abuse and violence experienced by people in various forms of relationships, across age, gender, and social status. Yet, the show keeps going back to its flagship message, the necessity of gifting children a healthy, safe, and happy childhood for “Violence is learned in childhood”. The story and plot are riveting because the truth is riveting.
Doktor Hanim (Binnur Kaya) is the senior clinical psychologist of the Monolic Clinic, which is built and designed like a home with all homely comforts and ambiance. Nesrin (Hande Dogandemire) and her two children are victims of narcissistic abuse and her husband Mehmet (Salih Bademci) is an egomaniac with anger management issues. Her prim and proper appearance symbolizes the forced role and lies that she is living. Leila Ayoglu is a small girl who is taken by her parents to meet Dr. Deniz (Burak Sevinç) because she has stopped speaking to anyone and throws frustrating tantrums. Leyla’s soft toy speaks more to the doctor than her. Alya (Melisa Sözen), a twenty-something-year-old, shabbily dressed delicate girl who hides behind the red curtain of shame, trembles at every movement yet beams like a child when she adorns her hair with a tiny ladybird hair clip. Who is this child that loves to hear stories but refrains from telling hers? Meliha (Evrim Alasya), a woman in her mid-life is a warm person living with a smile-less face. She covers herself in black, the only colour she identifies her life with. What transpired that she is not able to see the colors of life?
Director Cem Karci seems to have envisioned the series to play around the word “close”, which is evident in the settings, choice of stories, and the close-up camera shots he has chosen, tightly framing each performer’s face, especially their eyes, establishing an intimate emotional connection with the audience. The director of photography deserves a special shout out here for his camera is teaching us, viewers, to notice the nimble blinks, subtle shudders, and minuscule muscular twitches that are physical manifestations of a destruct mind seeking help.
Speaking of close-up shots and muscle twitches, the entire cast of this show seem to have done their in-depth homework on the background stories and the specific psychological problems of their characters. Performers Salih Bedemci (Mehmet), Melisa Sözen (Alya), and Evrim Alasya (Meliha) depict the physical manifestations of different mental health issues and their involuntary reflections on the countenance and body language of a person so emotively and almost intuitively that the viewers perceive the myriad, layered expressions of deeper disturbances credibly and empathetically.
The attention to the eye work showcased by most characters is meritorious as the irregularities in eye movements is a pivotal indicator of various mental illnesses. As for the therapists, the professional manners, contained yet natural-sounding voice modulations, nuanced gestures, and discreet movements delivered by the Binnur Kaya, Burak Sevinç, and Gülçin Kültür Şahin is convincing and focused. The stories and roles of the rest of the cast will unfold only in the following episodes. Aesthetically, this series is calming yet rich with symbolism.
Is Kırmızı Oda therapeutic and cathartic for the viewers? I would say, yes, but it may serve different purposes for each viewer. The big win is that this series could be the first to tell actual victims that their so-called fate or suffering in life actually has a name – abuse. The conflicting, often poles-apart, perspectives of the abused and the abuser in a given context is portrayed in a precise nutshell, helping the characters and viewers to process the multi-faceted, almost confusing reality. This is where I find the slow pace of the script and the clever structuring of the asides by the various therapists intelligently designed. The pacing also reflects how the time and effort actually goes into a therapist's journey with their patients, especially through the healing process. But for those who really experience similar psychological issues the pace would seem just perfect for the dialogues and asides accurately capsules the actual and the felt reality of those situations and feelings; offering, progressively, a possible new perspective to re-view their life.
It is a good starting point for those who have the freedom and privilege to walk into a clinical counselor’s office and start their journey to healing. For some, it will help shed the veil of shame and stigma; for others, it may serve as a rope of hope to renew themselves in their own capacity. Here, a thoughtful genuineness that the makers’ have sprinkled the series with is the humanity of the past and present realities of the therapists themselves. Every therapist in the series is our equal, just that they keep turning their mess into their ministry.
The first episode balances brokenness and healing in a well-crafted screenplay which ends in a pleasant, relieving surprise and scope for hope. With characters that break most categorical glass ceilings, the series subtly put the makers, characters, performers, and viewers at the same level- the level of humanity. This show's success so far is a product of the global and local cultural awakening to its theme, the mature discernment of the audience, and its own sheer artistic and aesthetic brilliance. Throughout, there is a strong message against violence and abuse of any form- verbal, emotional, psychological, and physical. The show also conveys the urgency of respecting human dignity and choices, irrespective of any social, cultural, or biological categories. In Kırmızı Oda, the personal, the regional, and the universal realities of humanity converge subtly yet deeply. This show is worth our time and a baby step towards a journey to our inner world and humanity outside.
