What makes a man good or ­otherwise? Aydin (Haluk Bilginer) is a grizzled former actor – the owner of a rambling hotel tucked into the Anatolian mountains. He is a patriarchal figure in a small community, both landlord and respected artist, husband to a beautiful if melancholy young wife, provider for his sister, columnist on moral issues in the local newspaper. He is someone to whom the less fortunate turn for advice … or permission. Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s film carried off the Palme d’Or, at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Co-written with his wife, Ebru, the film is inspired by a Chekhov short story, or many stories, for Ceylan does not reveal which one. It is not hard, though, to detect a Chekhovian mood – the isolation, the distance from Istanb