Ellbogen
Director: Asli Özarslan
Writer: Asli Özarslan, Claudia Schaefer
Based on: Fatma Aydemir‘s novel
Cast: Melia Kara, Doga Gürer, Jale Arikan, Haydar Sahin, Orhan Kilic, Jamilah Bagdach, Asya Utku, Mina Sagdic, Denis Riffel
Seen on: 18.10.2025

Content Note: dubious consent/rape, sexualized violence, police violence, drug use, (critical treatment of) racism

Plot:
Hazal (Melia Kara) is trying to find a job but it is proving difficult. Despite many applications, job trainings and her hope to get somewhere, she mostly encounters rejection. Her parents are putting pressure on her, too. She finds some solace with Mehmet (Doga Gürer) who lives in Istanbul but with whom she regularly videochats, and with her friends in Berlin. On her 18th birthday, she just wants to have a good time with her friends, but all the pent-up frustration is about to explode.

Ellbogen impressively captures Hazal’s difficulties and her continuous attempts to rise above her circumstances, though it is realistic enough to know that those attempts won’t always be successful. The ending is a bit too open for my taste, but it is quite a ride to get there.

Ellbogen certainly isn’t a happy movie. Hazal isn’t in the worst of situations in the world, at least not at first, but she is not far removed from really big trouble, either. It just takes a little bit to push her over the edge. In the first part of the film, Özarslan masterfully builds up Hazal’s frustration. She just can’t seem to catch a break, and the (often racist) pressure keeps rising from all sides – until everything explodes.

While you can’t help but feel that there needed to be only one thing to go her away to stave off catastrophe, the film never makes light of the way Hazal ultimately explodes. Even though it is very understandable how she gets to the point where she does what she does, it is a fucked-up thing to do and everybody knows it, including her.

But Hazal, wonderfully portrayed by Kara in all aspects – her aggression, her vulnerability, her youth, her innocence, her fight -, isn’t ready to face the consequences for her actions. Knowing that she is never treated fairly, how could she put her trust in the legal system anyway? She’d rather run away, dreaming of a better life, a chance – only to find that the haven she envisioned is just as dangerous, albeit in a different way.

In the end, the film leaves everything open and that felt a bit like a cop-out, although I couldn’t say what kind of ending I would have preferred. A good ending, in any case, seems impossible, so maybe it is better to have no ending at all. Still, I thought that Hazal deserved a little better than the ending she got here. Other than that, though, it was a really strong film – and I am curious to read Aydemir’s novel now.

Summarizing: tough but good.