Art of Love may be as beautiful as the divine creations of Leonardo Da Vinci or Vincent Van Gogh or Pablo Picasso, but unlike these paintings the movie, helmed by the Turkish director, Recai Karagoz, is rather shallow beneath the surface. Set in picture-perfect Istanbul, with its gorgeous Islamic architecture, and Prague, where ornate buildings provide the beautiful backdrop for a story that is generically hard to define. Art of Love poses a question. Is it a love story or a crime caper?
Attractive Alin (played with a fair amount of finesse by Esra Belgic) is an Interpol officer, teaming with Ozan (Ushan Cakir) to track down a notorious art thief, who steals paintings from some of the most heavily secured galleries. Trying to get him down is not easy, but Alin manages to spot him during one of the heists in which he neatly picks up an art work and disappears. As he just about manages to get into his car, Alin manages to catch a glimpse of him. And what a shock she gets: he is Guney (essayed with a devil-may-care attitude by Birkan Sokullu), the guy she had once dated and been deeply in love.
Their romance had crashed when he had vanished without a trace, leaving her heartbroken. Years later, in an believable coincidence, Alin spots him outside the gallery while he was escaping with a painting. Art of Love seems to falter here, not quite being able to decide which way to head. Guney’s dashing good looks and lovely mannerisms mesmerise Alin, and the clash between duty to send him to prison and her love for him get her all jittery and confused.
The plot veers into another angle with an art collector, Faysal (Firat Tanis), slipping into the frame, and muddling the script, which, in any case, has not been neatly packed. At just about 90 minutes, the movie may be an easy watch on a lazy evening. But beyond this, it comes off as a rather shallow work crying for some basic depth and a story that could have been less angular. Yes, attractive people and gorgeous places may be somewhat of a plus point.
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