Docudrama reveals lives of harem’s wilful women

A docudrama titled "The Sultan's Women" sheds light on the lives of women within the harem system, which featured a domineering patriarch and a secretive world of sexual oppression. The film, created by Emmy- and Peabody-winning filmmaker David Rabinovitch, explores the turbulent final years of the Ottoman Empire and how some women transcended their roles to wield significant influence.

Set in the 1870s, the narrative opens with liberal-minded Sultan Murad V, surrounded by his sprawling harem. The Sultan's harem, placed under house arrest in Çırağan Palace, was home to women who were under penalty of death for giving interviews, keeping diaries, or speaking to outsiders about their experiences. However, in 1942, a woman who had lived in the harem for 60 years spoke to a Turkish writer, providing the film with a unique firsthand account.

Notable women protagonists emerge in the film, including Princess Hatice Sultan, Murad's daughter. Despite her father's brother Abdul Hamid II arranging a marriage for her, she repaid the favor by having an affair with the sultan's son-in-law, sparking a scandal across the empire. Halide Edib Adıvar is another prominent figure in the film, known for her complex relationship with the Armenian genocide, her divorce from her husband, and her liberal education.

As a novelist, intellectual, and prominent figure in Kemal Atatürk's nationalist movement, she became one of Turkey's pioneering modern cultural figures.

Originally produced in 2012 as a two-part series, "The Sultan's Women" was later recut into a single feature. By 2012, Turkey had already begun its backslide toward authoritarianism, which froze its EU accession. Rabinovitch commends the Turkish team behind the film for their bravery in tackling the subject matter. He also notes the atmosphere of media repression in Turkey, which influenced the film's domestic reception.

"The Sultan's Women" has since been available on various platforms, including Tubi, Prime Video in the United States and Ireland, Popsy on Plex and Fawesome, and internationally. While Rabinovitch's previous work often focused on the high dramas of bygone theocratic regimes, he is more renowned for groundbreaking investigative documentaries, such as Shanghai Shadows (1980) and Crime and Punishment in America (1997).