Make Me Believe 2023

Two neighboring grandmothers, Zerrin Sümer and Yıldız Kültür, enlist their grandchildren Sahra Ayça Ayşin Turan and Deniz Ekin Koç after pretending to be gravely ill. At the beach, the two youths arrive to lend a hand, but their reunion stirs memories from years past and hints at paths they’ve since chosen apart. Sahra, the sharp-edged editor-in-training, and Deniz, a principled photographer, once knew each other, yet their lives have diverged. The early tension is palpable: Sahra’s urgency to help contrasts with Deniz’s wary distance, and the two elders ache for attention and connection, each feeling forgotten in their routines.

That evening, the elders’ ploy becomes a test of loyalties and pride. Sahra’s grandmother pushes her to mediate a minor but symbolic exchange—returning a plate to the other household—while the other grandmother insists Deniz answer the door. The encounter is far from smooth; the quarrel between the two young people echoes the friction between the two houses, leaving everyone frustrated and a little more weary of old resentments.

As dusk settles, Sahra gloats that Kerem’s lead in the magazine race is not as strong as hers, and she mentions a certain Deniz who could be the perfect interview subject. Deniz, who has long refused such an arrangement, becomes the focal point of Sahra’s ambition, and the prospect of a shared professional moment intensifies the underlying tension between them, even as a spark of curiosity flickers.

A dramatic incident soon follows: Deniz’s grandmother asks Sahra to retrieve her cat from a tree, providing a ladder that is then “accidentally” withdrawn. Under the tree, Deniz is coaxed closer, and a misguided move with the ladder leads to an injury on Deniz’s head. Sahra leaves the first aid kit behind after a tense moment, but the grandmother’s pushy care nudges the situation toward something more personal. Later, when Sahra recognizes a photograph on the wall as evidence of Deniz’s identity as the elusive Deniz Tunali, the truth lands with a weight she hadn’t anticipated. Realizing the significance, Sahra reaches out to Ahu for help amidst the past rivalries that still haunt them.

The following morning brings a plan to stage a big breakfast that blends both households, but the timing is messy. Deniz and his friend Ulas Çağrı Çıtanak arrive late to the scene, and a visit to Ulas’s bar becomes a setting for a fragile alliance. Sahra and Ahu see a chance to coax Deniz into a magazine photo shoot, spinning a delicate trap that could yield a powerful interview. The mood lightens as the group shares drinks, a tourist’s flirtation with Sahra interrupts the moment, and chaos erupts when a misunderstanding leads to an arrest for everyone involved, puncturing the bubble of their carefully curated plans.

Locked away together, Deniz and Sahra face the consequences of their choices. In the morning, Deniz gives Sahra a ride on his motorcycle, and her plea for him to slow down is met with a dangerous rush. She reveals a deep-seated fear: both of her parents died in a motorcycle accident, a trauma that has shaped her wary approach to trust. She asks to return to being merely friends, and Deniz, with a soft, half-smile, suggests they never truly were just friends—before he kisses her, sealing a pivotal shift.

Back in the world outside, both return altered by the night’s revelations, though neither discards their silence about the other. Ahu presses for news on the interview, but Sahra admits the timing isn’t right yet. Deniz escorts her to a place they once shared when they were younger, where he opens up about why he has appeared so distant: his own crush had once been unreturned, and he learned to let his work speak for him.

As the weekend unfolds, Sahra and Deniz grow closer, their bond strengthening with every quiet moment they steal together. They fall in love, choosing to let that love blossom away from the glare of the page and the deadlines of the magazine. But fate tests them again when the photographer slated to shoot the feature backs out at the last minute. Deniz volunteers to take the photos himself, hoping the integrity of the piece will shine through without compromising Sahra’s principles—or her career.

The moment of truth arrives when Kerem enters the scene with the news that Sahra is meant to conduct the Deniz interview. The revelation unsettles Sahra, who retreats home and crafts a story about Deniz that foregrounds his beliefs and his life without exploiting a single image or personal detail. The piece becomes a portrait of Deniz as a person, not merely a subject, and it unsettles the power dynamic between editor and subject.

At Sahra’s promotion dinner, Deniz makes a bold appearance after reading the article. He sees beyond the public persona and realizes Sahra’s careful, thoughtful gaze has finally learned to see him. Their kiss signals a new chapter: they are together at last, not as a pair defined by a competition, but as two people who have chosen to share a future openly and honestly, united by both their past and their present.

In the end, the film threads together themes of memory, ambition, and vulnerability with a grounded, hopeful tone. The grandmothers’ worry and the siblings’ rivalries soften as Sahra and Deniz navigate love, professional integrity, and the delicate balance between personal truth and the story the world wants to tell. Their budding partnership becomes a testament to patience, trust, and the quiet courage it takes to bridge histories and hearts that once stood apart.