My Father’s Violin ending explained – will Mehmet keep his niece Ozlem?

This article discusses the ending of the Netflix film My Father’s Violin and will contain spoilers.

Ready Steady Cut film critic M.N. Miller calls My Father’s Violin “a heartfelt, uninspired drama.”

The Turkish film, My Father’s Violin (Babamin Kemani), tells its story around a concert conductor, Mehmet (Engin Altan Düzyatan), and the niece Özlem (the adorable newcomer Gülizar Nisa Uray) he hardly knows. Turkey’s new “Big Daddy” takes over parenting responsibilities because his estranged brother has died of pancreatic cancer.

This sets the stage for a “heartwarming” genre film that attempts to pull those heartstrings as each character tries to feel the other out. Mehmet cares about the new opening musical piece he has to compose. All Özlem cares about is, you know, food, shelter, and clothing, which her uncle ignores blindly when his wife, Suna (Belçim Bilgin), leaves him. Why? Because of his stubborn, pigheadedness of refusing to give his niece a chance.

Of course, by the end of the film, Mehmet finds his love for his niece. While making her his famous eggs and homemade bread, he allows her to pick up his cell phone at home. It’s social services, and, while on speakerphone, they want to know why he didn’t drop off Özlem last night? Of course, this makes her cry, and she runs out of the house with her violin. The conductor finds her in a park and hears her play for the first time. They embrace, and as they do, you sense they have formed a new family.

Netflix film My Father’s Violin ending explained

The ending has My Father’s Violin offering closure to Mehmet, through Özlem, the niece that looks like she was taken right out of the movie Brave. It is revealed that the brothers grew up with an abusive father and an alcoholic mother. He then tells her why he was mad at her father. For putting him, he was the younger brother on a ship without the older sibling accompanying him. This seems unusual, no? As a young child, he thought he was left alone and with no one to protect him. 

It turns out, Özlem knows what had happened. Her father told her that he only had enough money for Mehmet for that boat ride, not him. He sacrificed his happiness and tied himself to his childhood and adolescent life of abuse. All so his younger brother could have a better life. A real chance, mind you, to accomplish his dreams. 

The same way he wanted Mehmet to give his daughter a chance at life.

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