Recep Ivedik 5 2017

Recep Ivedik, a jobless man in present-day Turkey, is reprimanded by a police officer for harassment but is released without charges. On his way home, he discovers a hotel owner’s wallet and later sees the same man, Muhsin Basaran, on TV giving advice. Motivated by a sense of respect, Recep sets off on a road trip to return the wallet. Along the way, he lends a hand to young girls with car batteries, dives into lively dance circles, and eventually hitches a ride with a group of eccentric rock band members after his own car breaks down. In a drunken turn, he ends up at a restaurant where he’s challenged by another man for a car ride, and, to his surprise, wins the lift. The new ride, however, comes with a complication: the truck driver is homosexual, which unsettles him, and Recep ultimately leaves the vehicle when the driver makes unwanted advances.

Recep continues hitchhiking for the duration of the journey, and later, after returning the wallet to Basaran at a hotel, he plans to depart—only to glimpse his childhood love, Sibel, stirring a desire to stay a while longer. He requests extra nights to reconnect with her. Life at the hotel proves chaotic and comic: he accidentally locks himself out of his room while wearing nothing but a bath towel, which makes the hotel manager, Erim, squirm. After regaining access, Recep bonds with a receptionist over a drink, and Erim assigns him to be watched so he doesn’t cause further trouble.

The next morning, a mishap near a pool sees Recep inadvertently knock Sibel in, sparking a brief quarrel; it becomes clear she doesn’t recognize him. He buys summer clothes and tries to join Sibel’s volleyball game, but she refuses; he nonetheless joins the opposing team and helps them win, though she declines the trophy he offers. At a buffet, Recep overeats, embarrassing Erim, and later, sitting with Sibel and her mother, he endures weight-related insults before leaving. In an effort to impress, he asks Erim if he can join an aerobics class; Erim agrees but buys him embarrassingly pink attire. He attends the class, performing oddly enough to unsettle Sibel, while Erim secretly enjoys the spectacle.

An aquatic instructor arrives to remind Sibel and her mother of their upcoming scuba lesson. Recep joins the group, but his rude antics irritate the instructor. When the time comes to dive, Recep sneaks off to an island where an adult film is being shot, disrupts the production, insults the director, and returns to the hotel. He confronts Sibel and her mother for not finding him, and Sibel rebuts by telling him about her mother’s illness, which triggers memories of Recep’s grandmother’s death. He gives Sibel a conch and insults her mother, then leaves. It’s obvious at this point that Sibel is starting to develop feelings for him.

Back at the hotel, Recep asks the receptionist to accompany him to the disco, but the receptionist declines. Frustrated, he goes alone. At the disco, he spots Sibel with another man and challenges the pair to a dance-off, astonishing the crowd with his moves. He wins and drinks heavily as a reward. The next morning, Sibel’s mother finds him by the pool, hungover, while she scolds him. He notices Sibel entering the spa area with a masseur and follows, pretending to need the bathroom. He covers the masseur’s face with a towel, enters the room he thinks Sibel is in, only to find another woman under towels. Sibel arrives late and discovers Recep occupying her room, so she takes a different one. Unaware of the mix-up, Recep begins an intimate massage, only realizing his mistake when he notices the other client’s swollen feet. The client misreads his compliments, and Recep, embarrassed, flees the parlor. He glimpses Sibel on the way out, asking where she was, then keeps running.

A photographer later asks Recep for a portrait. He starts with a confident pose but quickly switches to a rude one, much to Sibel’s amusement. She shares a selfie with him and invites him to a hotel comedy event, which he accepts. Onstage, Recep accidentally becomes a contestant in a partner game; his previous massage client volunteers as his partner, much to his dismay. The game requires them to pop balloons by sitting on each other, and when the client’s weight collapses the chair, Recep’s frustration leads him to fat-shame her.

Recep is caught drinking from a display fountain by Erim, who scolds him for insulting his partner and causing trouble. Recep threatens to tear down the hotel with his trucker friends, leaving Erim puzzled. Moments later, the truckers arrive, ready to carry out the threat. Erim tries to win them over with friendliness, but they respond with intimidation. Recep warns Erim that if he tries to eject him again, the hotel will be razed.

On the beach, Sibel ends her engagement by phone, confessing new feelings for Recep, which prompts her mother to intervene. They argue, and her mother storms off. Recep finds Sibel distressed and offers his support. When Sibel’s mother is ominously near danger from a charging horse, Recep rushes to intervene, but she misreads his actions as assault and orders medical help. Exhausted, Recep sinks onto a floating tube, not realizing it’s tied to a speedboat; the vessel surges away, dumping him into the sea.

In the hospital infirmary, Sibel and her mother resume their argument about her choices, while Recep chats with the receptionist at an outdoor bar. Seeing Sibel again on the beach, he tries to lighten the mood with jokes, only to learn she’s now engaged and cannot reciprocate. Crushed, Recep rushes away. That evening, he sings a sorrowful song on the shore, drawing the receptionist’s concern. He opens up about the emotional toll of his relationships. The next morning, he abruptly decides to leave the hotel, instructing the receptionist to deliver a bag of marbles to Sibel, whose meaning remains a mystery. After a heartfelt farewell, he departs. Erim scolds the receptionist for the troubling behavior, resulting in the receptionist’s firing. Yet, spotting Sibel and her mother departing, Erim remembers the marbles and hurries to the airport to deliver them. When Sibel finally studies the marbles, she recognizes they are from their childhood, and she realizes that the man she’s been chasing is her long-lost childhood love.