The Edge of Heaven

2007 2h 2m DE

👍

7.2

SOLID

🔥

90%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.7

IMDB

★7.2TMDB · 372🍅90%Rotten Tomatoes●85Metacritic★7.7IMDB · 34,799

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The lives of six German-Turkish immigrants are drawn together by circumstance: An old man and a prostitute forging a partnership, a young scholar reconciling his past, two young women falling in love, and a mother putting the shattered pieces of her life back together.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Nurgül Yeşilçay
Ayten Öztürk
Baki Davrak
Nejat Aksu
Patrycia Ziółkowska
Lotte Staub
Tuncel Kurtiz
Ali Aksu
Nursel Köse
Yeter Öztürk
Hanna Schygulla
Susanne Staub
Erkan Can
Cousin Ufuk
Nejat İşler
Commissioner

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Fatih Akin
Writers: Fatih Akin
Languages: English, Turkish, German
Countries: Germany, Turkey

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.8M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.7× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 19 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Turkish, German.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Germany, Turkey.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Fatih Akin, shot by Rainer Klausmann. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Andrew Bird shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Nurgül Yeşilçay and Baki Davrak and Patrycia Ziółkowska carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Fatih Akin directs. Rainer Klausmann behind the camera. Andrew Bird cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in Germany, Turkey. Dialogue in English, Turkish, German.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $3.8M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Made its money back 4.7× over at the box office.
3Released 19 years ago.
4Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Turkish, German.
5International production across 2 countries: Germany, Turkey.
6Directed by Fatih Akin, shot by Rainer Klausmann. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Editor Andrew Bird shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Nurgül Yeşilçay and Baki Davrak and Patrycia Ziółkowska carry the top of the cast.
9IMDB entry: tt0880502 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 13 themes, including "prison", "dying and death", "mother", "funeral".

The technical file

Cinematography: Rainer Klausmann
Editing: Andrew Bird
Production design: Tamo Kunz
Costume design: Katrin Aschendorf
Sound: Jörg Krieger
Runtime: 122 min · 2h 2m
Status: Released
Budget: $3,800,000
Box office: $17,804,565
Return: 469% of budget
Original language: DE
IMDB: The Edge of Heaven (2007)
Rotten Tomatoes: 90% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 85/100
IMDB rating: 7.7/10 · 34,799 votes
MPAA: Not Rated

Awards

37 wins & 22 nominations total

Lux Prize
European Film Award for Best Screenwriter

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Fatih Akin

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-04-02
★ 7/10
This is quite a powerful full-circle drama that starts with a young but uninspired college professor “Nejat” (Baki Davrak) who disapproves of his widowed father (Tuncel Kurtis) inviting his prostitute friend to be his live-in lover. “Yeter” (Nursel Köse) isn’t just on the game for drugs and her pimp, she is determined that her daughter back home in Turkey will get the education she was denied and so have better prospects. “Nejat” respects that and soon the pair are getting along better - to the chagrin of the father whose erratic behaviour causes a tragic occurrence that sees him incarcerated and estranged from his son. Concerned for her well-being, “Nejat” now travels to Turkey to try to track down “Ayten” (Nurgül Yesilçay), a young woman whom we know has already befriended “Lotte” (Patrycia Ziolkowska) in Germany. “Ayten” isn’t legal and she is deported, but to a Turkey that considers her a member of a banned organisation and so, now she is imprisoned, “Lotte” sets off after her - despite the protestations of her mother “Susanne” (Hanna Schygulla). Guess whom “Lotte” ends up sharing an apartment with? Yep, told you it was cyclical. What’s more engaging here is that though each story is connected, there is a surprising lack of the contrived as the stories seamlessly morph from the light-hearted to the more serious and switch from nation to nation. It illustrates cultural, sexual and political distinctions without ramming them down our throats and though perhaps it does linger longer on the “Lotte” and “Ayten” story than I felt it needed, it’s an at times poignant look at what really matters in life.

Production companies