Okay, let’s talk about Love, Spells and All That (Turkish title: Büyü, 2019) like we’re two queer girls whispering on a late-night voice note, because that’s exactly the vibe this movie deserves.
I’m just a regular lesbian who spends way too much time hunting for sapphic content that doesn’t end in tragedy, and when I stumbled on this little Turkish gem a couple years ago, I was NOT ready. Like… a soft, sunny, Mediterranean island love story between two women who literally hire witches to break a childhood curse so they can be together? Sign me the hell up.
The plot in one breath: Reyhan (Ece Dizdar) is a wealthy Istanbul woman about to get married (to a man, classic). She returns to her childhood island, Büyükada, for the wedding and runs into the girl who made her heart explode when they were teenagers: Beren (Selen Uçer), the free-spirited, slightly chaotic photographer who still lives there. Twenty years ago, their families caught them kissing and freaked out so hard that both dads paid witches to cast spells so the girls would never love each other again. Yeah, you read that right. Actual spells. Actual witches. Actual homophobic Turkish dads thinking magic is the solution.
Fast-forward: the second Reyhan and Beren lock eyes, the spells start cracking like cheap glass. Suddenly they’re sneaking wine on rooftops, swimming at midnight, holding hands under tables, remembering how they used to hide love notes in tree trunks. The chemistry is insane. It’s that slow-burn, “I’ve loved you for two decades and I never stopped” kind of tension that makes you want to scream into a pillow.
What hit me hardest as a lesbian viewer is how normal their love feels. There’s no big “coming out” speech, no dramatic disowning scene (well, not new ones), no one dies, no one gets hate-crimed. The obstacle is literally just… a spell from 1999. That’s it. The rest of the world just keeps spinning while these two women figure out how to choose each other. In a queer cinema landscape full of pain, this movie said “what if everything was soft and golden and you just get to be happy?”
The island itself is a whole mood. Bright-colored houses, horses instead of cars, ferries, cats everywhere, endless sea. The cinematography is so warm you can almost smell the salt and the pine trees. And the soundtrack? Pure summer nostalgia. Every time I rewatch, I end up crying at the scene where they dance in that tiny bar while “Aşkım Aşkım” plays. It’s so stupidly romantic I can’t handle it.
Also, shoutout to the side plot with the two old witches who are basically a married lesbian couple themselves. One of them literally says “we’ve been together 40 years” and I lost my entire mind. Representation for the elders too, please and thank you.
Look, is the pacing slow? Yeah, it’s Turkish indie cinema, it’s supposed to breathe. Are there moments where you want to shake Reyhan and scream “leave the fiancé, he’s boring!!”? 100%. But that’s the point. This isn’t a Hollywood lesbian movie that has to rush to the kiss in 90 minutes. This one takes its time, lets you live inside the longing, makes you earn that final scene (no spoilers, but you know the one).
If you’re a lesbian who’s tired of crying over Portrait of a Lady on Fire for the 27th time (I still love you, Céline Sciamma), do yourself a favor and watch Love, Spells and All That. It’s gentle, it’s hopeful, it’s unapologetically gay in the quietest, most beautiful way. And yeah, maybe it’ll put a little spell on you too.
Now excuse me while I go rewatch it for the fourth time this month and text my girlfriend “remember when we were 15 and the world felt impossible?” because that’s what this movie does to you.
Have you seen it yet? Tell me in the comments which scene made you absolutely feral. I need to know I’m not alone.
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