2024 Entry #016 01-12-24 “Steam: The Turkish Bath” (aka “Hamam”) is a 1997 Italian-Turkish-Spanish film by openly gay writer and director Ferzan Özpetek (“The Ignorant Fairies”, “Facing Windows”, “Saturn in Opposition”, “Loose Cannons”, “Magnificent Presence”, “Fasten Your Seatbelts”, “Red Istanbul”, “The Goddess of Fortune”, ““Nuovo Olimpo”). Özpetek’s debut film, the story concerns how certain places can cause powerful transformations for the people that find themselves there.
The film is centered on Francesco (Alessandro Gassman) and Marta (Francesca d’Aloja), who run a husband-and-wife design company in Rome. Both are struggling in their marriage as Francesco is bi-curious and possibly gay, while Marta is having a serious affair. When Francesco’s aunt dies in Istanbul he travels there to sort out the hamam Turkish steam bath that she left him. But Francesco and later Marta both find a love and warmth in his relatives’ Istanbul home that has been missing from their lives in Italy.
I had seen this once before in the mid aughts. I remembered very little of it except that I had enjoyed it. The film has an interesting structure and an ending that I wouldn’t have guessed, but I think this is in part because I’m not sure the film truly supports the finale and it feels a bit rushed. It could have been an exceptional ending had it taken a bit more time to get there, but as it is, it feels slightly flawed. When I originally watched the film it was part of a massive viewing of various LGBTQ+ themed films, just as I’m doing now, but then I feel I was slightly more impressed to see elements here that I’ve grown accustomed to and that I’m a little less impressed by now. The film still has a lot going for it, including an impressive cast, beautiful scenery and like other Özpetek films I’ve seen, a memorable soundtrack.