Delibal 2015

Barış is an architecture student who also makes music as a hobby, and he lives with a bipolar disorder, choosing to enjoy life. When he first notices Füsun, he feels a love unlike anything he has known before. This powerful feeling pushes him toward a girl whose name he doesn’t yet know, but whom he is determined to reach. She is focused on finishing university and pursuing a master’s in America, and she also longs to be convinced of love. Barış, handsome, smart, and sincere, gradually wins her heart and they marry, turning their life into something almost fairy-tale-like. Everything feels magical until the day the fairy tale begins to crack, and he disappears, leaving a bewildered Füsun and his distraught parents.

As Barış’s illness unfolds, his mood swings, hallucinations, and emotional detachment grow more pronounced, and the medications intended to steady him leave him numb. This deepens Füsun’s suspicions about his fidelity and causes worry for everyone who cares about him. To help her understand his condition, Haydar visits Füsun and recounts how Barış’s bipolar disorder once led him to fear for his own safety around them, a revelation that finally helps her see the pattern behind his volatile behavior. In a carefully placed flashback, the story reveals a turning moment: after a long, exhausting day, he persuades her to go on a bike ride. She is hesitant, but his enthusiasm wins her over. During the ride, he loses control in pursuit of a rush, and the fear in her eyes shatters his world. This moment fuels his desperate resolve to protect her, even from himself, and he records a final video that conveys his deepest love, fears, and the promise to shield her.

Driven by his love and his struggles, he ultimately takes a tragic step: he cannot safeguard her from his own demons, and he decides to leave. He hopes for forgiveness even as he acknowledges the danger his condition poses to her. The parting words are heavy: being madly in love can feel like a poison that might have harmed her if he had stayed. Afterward, the authorities locate Barış’s body, confirming his death, while Füsun must grapple with the shards of a life together that ended too soon, along with the weight of a confession found on a CD that lays bare his innermost feelings, fears, and unwavering wish to protect the woman he loves.