The real-life ‘honour’ killing of a young Turkish-Kurdish woman is given a unique narrative treatment by German-American filmmaker Sherry Hormann in this empathetic and uncompromising film. 

A Regular Woman is based on the true story of Hatun ‘Aynur’ Sürücü, murdered in Berlin when she was 23 by her youngest brother to preserve the family’s honour. When she was 16, Aynur’s conservative Muslim family sent her back to Turkey to marry a cousin. The marriage was abusive, leading Aynur back to Berlin to bravely create a life of her own.

Hormann (Desert Flower, MIFF 2005) fuses still images and video footage of the real Aynur with an unadorned visual style to create an unsensational exploration of the events leading to Aynur’s death, and an ongoing global issue. Employing a voiceover from Aynur’s perspective reclaims the dead woman’s agency, as played by Almila Bagriacik; in a powerfully controlled performance, we are able to celebrate Aynur’s freedom, brief as it is, through the beauty and self-determination of her defiance.

“By allowing the murdered woman … to narrate the action both before and after her death, the director restores the victim’s voice.” – Variety