Karamuk
Year of release: 2002
Directed by: Sülbiye Günar
Germany
This Turkish German coming-of-age story centres on seventeen-year-old Johanna, who lives with her single mother in Cologne. Her one ambition in life is to become a fashion designer but she needs to find the money to study in Paris.
When her mother does not support her, Johanna approaches Peter, her mother’s ex-partner and the man whom she presumes to be her father. She soon learns that not the German Peter but a Turkish man named Cumhur is her biological father. He is the owner of an elegant Turkish restaurant. Without revealing her identity, Johanna finds work in the kitchen of Cumhur’s restaurant and befriends the Turkish chef. Determined to find the money to go to fashion school, she breaks into Cumhur’s safe – and gets caught by him. At first Cumhur is furious, but then his anger subsides and he is forgiving, generous and thoughtful. He explains to Johanna why he never got the chance to be the kind of father to her which he would have liked to be: Johanna’s mother never told him that she was expecting a baby from him, presumably because she did not want to marry him. So Cumhur married a well-educated Turkish woman, Füssun, with whom he has two children and an exceptionally happy family life, which is contrasted with Johanna’s conflict-ridden and fragmented domestic background. The rebellious and unhappy Johanna soon learns to trust her new-found father, who instantly assumes a protective and nurturing role in her life, even integrating her to some extent in his perfect family life. He also provides her with the money to study at a fashion academy in Paris in the end.
Filed under: Coming of age | Daughters | Fathers | Patriarchy | Secrets | Turkish German