"Are you bored?" is the first line in Turkish writer-director Ceylan's Climates, and for a lot of viewers, the answer to that question will be yes. A slow and methodical drama about a doomed relationship, Climates has occasional moments of quiet beauty but is just as often frustratingly inert, with all its studied minimalism resulting in little more than characters staring desultorily into the middle distance.
Following the schematism outlined by the title, we move from the sun of the shore to the cloudiness of Istanbul, and then to a remote, snowy town where Isa pursues Bahar, completing the meteorological cycle and bringing his romantic intentions full-circle.
The weather symbolism is overly portentous, and Isa is an emotionally unavailable jerk, so there isn't a whole lot to grab onto here. Like his character, Ceylan was a photographer before turning to filmmaking, and he composes a few truly stunning shots. Although the dialogue is sparse, the ambient sound is heightened, with small, everyday noises—people breathing, floors creaking, water running—amplified and emphasized, perhaps to highlight the banality of relationships. Or, maybe the sound designer just got bored.