Faraway

Losing a beautiful soul who is close to us changes us. Our core values get shaken up. We stop, we stare, we ponder. And all of a sudden, we see life differently. Losing someone dear to us is indeed a life-changing occurrence. One that is usually followed by other life-changing adventures…

And that is exactly what happened to Zeynep Altin, the main protagonist in Netflix’ latest German rom-com movie Faraway. Along with her husband, grumpy teenage daughter and aging father, the 49-years-old Zeynep leads a stressful yet ordinary life in Munich, Germany. She’s not really beautiful nor ugly, not exceptionally smart nor stupid. But is definitely stuck in a life, in which everything seems to be crumbling when her beloved mother passes away. 

On the day of her mother’s funeral, Zeynep finds out that she just inherited a house on a Croatian island that her mother had secretly bought before she died. She would have wanted to talk about it to her family, but… instead of mourning, Zeynep’s father is still furious about her mother. Instead of helping her, her grumpy daughter keeps being angry about everything. And instead of supporting her and attending her mother’s funeral, her husband got distracted by a new young lady chef in the family’s Turkish restaurant. 

When Zeynep confronts her husband after the funeral, she can’t take it anymore. Crying inside their delivery van, she suddenly decides that it is enough, and off she drives… to Croatia. Her journey to her mother’s house in Luč, Croatia takes her longer than expected. Completely exhausted, she immediately falls asleep in a bed upon her arrival. But little does she know that she wasn’t alone on that bed…

The next morning, she discovers that her mother’s house has been inhabited by its former owner, Josip Cega. A divorced man, living there with a goat, and appreciated by mostly everyone in the little coastal town, except for a real estate agent who’s eager to help Zeynep sell her mother’s house quickly. But as time pasts, and Zeynep learns more and more about her mother’s past and about the slow lifestyle on the Croatian island in general, her feelings change. All she wanted after her mother’s funeral was to flee from overwhelming sorrow. But not only does Zeynep found freedom in her mother’s hometown, but also simple happiness and deep love. 

Now does she really want to sell the house? After all, the wonderful Mediterranean views from her mother’s house took her breath away right from the start. And somehow, the view of Josip too…

Faraway might be a feel-good romcom. But it also made us travel. Discover. Explore. Croatia was on my travel bucket list, but after watching this movie, it just moved up to the top of our future destinations list! Besides, I can’t remember when we last watched a movie that made us both laugh and cry as hard as Faraway! 

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