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Three Thousand Years of Longing Movie Review

Three Thousand Years of Longing is a 2022 fantasy romance film directed by George Miller and starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton. It is one of the most underrated movies of the year.

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“Love is a gift. It’s a gift of oneself given freely.

It’s not something one can ever ask for“

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A lonely scholar, on a trip to Istanbul, discovers a Djinn who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. He begins telling her stories of his life through millennia. Miller co-wrote the screenplay and adapted a short story, but you would think that he adapted a full novel given that the film itself is so rich in story and ambition. It never quite escaped its literal roots and this story is clearly more meant for that medium, but the fact that he still managed to execute it mostly excellently is commendable.

‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ came out back in 2015. This makes this period his longest gap in filmmaking, which is a real shame as he is such a phenomenal director. Whenever he makes something, it is bound to be a completely different effort from his previous works, making for a highly eclectic filmography. And just the fact that we finally got a full-on fantasy epic at the movies is to be respected as this dying genre really needs to be resurrected.

This is the kind of fantasy storytelling that I just adore. It’s not set in the Dark Ages with the knights and the dragons and so on and so forth. Instead, it is more epic and ambitious in the various settings and time periods that it inhabits while consistently being enchanting and powerful in its various emotions on display.

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The movie makes a great point about the dangers of impressive technology in the 21^st century and how it negatively impacted humans’ appreciation of storytelling, dreams and imagination. Still, the film takes an optimistic stance on humanity and stories themselves as it showcases that magic can still prevail in spite of the current era’s nihilism and cynicism. The film also focuses on the importance of pursuing meaningful relationships, which is a theme that is more important now than ever before.

The romance actually worked for me. Yes, there isn’t too much chemistry between Elba and Swinton, but the relationship that develops between the two is still surprisingly tender and beautiful, leading to a truly powerful, heartwarming finale that was unexpectedly poetic in its tone. The film is surprisingly sensual (and sexual at times), which fitted the overall narrative.

Idris Elba was so well cast as the Djinn and he gave a very soulful performance. He is both warm and intelligent while also being playful and sensual at times. Tilda Swinton is wonderful as always and also perfectly cast in the role of this smart and reasonable narratologist. It’s interesting seeing this science depicted in a film as I haven’t been acquainted with it before myself.

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The bulk of the movie is set in different historical eras. This approach of the Djinn narrating his own life stories to Alithea is obviously not going to be everybody’s cup of tea, but for me it was wonderfully poetic, literary and admirably ambitious. Three Thousand Years of Longing is thus both a confined chamber drama and an epic period piece, being effective in both of these areas.

The Istanbul parts were the most intriguing ones and it was refreshing seeing the rich history of Turkey explored in a Hollywood movie for once. There is a solid comedic streak in the film with the funniest moments being the ones with the fat king and his morbidly obese concubines. The story of Zefir is by far the movie’s most touching and magical section. It is admirably feminist in nature while its emphasis on the drive for knowledge really appealed to me.

The CGI is definitely overused here, but at least most of it looked pretty good, though overly polished as usual. There is an unexpected emphasis on the laws of physics within the physiology of the Djinn, which was interesting to see explored. The editing is mostly excellent and the movie is beautifully paced in spite of its complex structure, leading to a riveting viewing experience from beginning to end. It just might be my favorite film from George Miller.

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