From Absence to Dinner Table

The Museum of Innocence

This flow follows Kemal’s loss of Füsun, his search for her, and his transformation into a regular presence in her family’s home.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

The Engagement Party The Engagement Party from "The Museum of Innocence". The Engagement Party A divided celebration Kemal becomes formally engaged to Sibel Hanım at the Hilton Hotel, Istanbul, while Füsun and her parents attend.

The Engagement Party from "The Museum of Innocence". The Engagement Party A divided celebration Kemal becomes formally engaged to Sibel Hanım at the Hilton Hotel, Istanbul, while Füsun and her parents attend.

The Engagement Party A divided celebration Kemal becomes formally engaged to Sibel Hanım at the Hilton Hotel, Istanbul, while Füsun and her parents attend. Seeing Füsun at the gathering makes his public happiness inseparable from his hidden attachment. Promises in a crowded room He dances with Füsun and promises to explain what will happen next. His words give her hope, but they do not yet amount to a decision to leave Sibel.

The Missed Appointment The Missed Appointment from "The Museum of Innocence". The Missed Appointment Waiting after the exam Füsun does not come to the Merhamet Apartments after her university entrance exam.

The Missed Appointment from "The Museum of Innocence". The Missed Appointment Waiting after the exam Füsun does not come to the Merhamet Apartments after her university entrance exam.

The Missed Appointment Waiting after the exam Füsun does not come to the Merhamet Apartments after her university entrance exam. Kemal waits for days, first sustaining himself with hope and then with increasingly consuming pain. A failed search He visits the boutique and learns she has quit. Later he goes to her family’s home and hears that she has left Istanbul with her father, a departure that destroys his assumption that their affair can simply resume.

The Empty Family Home The Empty Family Home from "The Museum of Innocence". The Empty Family Home A vanished household Kemal discovers that Füsun and her parents have moved from Kuyulu Bostan Street without leaving an address.

The Empty Family Home from "The Museum of Innocence". The Empty Family Home A vanished household Kemal discovers that Füsun and her parents have moved from Kuyulu Bostan Street without leaving an address.

The Empty Family Home A vanished household Kemal discovers that Füsun and her parents have moved from Kuyulu Bostan Street without leaving an address. He enters their empty apartment and takes small belongings as protection against the finality of their departure. Objects replace contact The objects give temporary relief but cannot tell him where Füsun has gone. His habit of collecting begins as an improvised response to absence rather than a considered project.

The Return Invitation The Return Invitation from "The Museum of Innocence". The Return Invitation A letter from Çukurcuma After months of searching, Kemal receives a brief invitation from Füsun to supper at her family’s new home.

The Return Invitation from "The Museum of Innocence". The Return Invitation A letter from Çukurcuma After months of searching, Kemal receives a brief invitation from Füsun to supper at her family’s new home.

The Return Invitation A letter from Çukurcuma After months of searching, Kemal receives a brief invitation from Füsun to supper at her family’s new home. The address gives his longing a destination and revives his hope of asking her to marry him. Hope meets reality He arrives carrying a tricycle and flowers, expecting a reunion. Instead, Füsun introduces Feridun as her husband, forcing Kemal to confront how much has happened during his absence.

The Regular Visitor The Regular Visitor from "The Museum of Innocence". The Regular Visitor A new arrangement Füsun’s mother welcomes Kemal to return, and he begins coming regularly to the Keskin Family’s Home in Çukurcuma.

The Regular Visitor from "The Museum of Innocence". The Regular Visitor A new arrangement Füsun’s mother welcomes Kemal to return, and he begins coming regularly to the Keskin Family’s Home in Çukurcuma.

The Regular Visitor A new arrangement Füsun’s mother welcomes Kemal to return, and he begins coming regularly to the Keskin Family’s Home in Çukurcuma. The film project offers a public explanation for his presence, while the family’s routines make him part of their private world. Years at the table His visits become a repeated practice of supper, television, conversation, and observation. What begins as access to Füsun gradually becomes attachment to the whole household and its suspended sense of time.

June 1975

Late summer 1975

May 1976

October 1976 onward