The Turkish Coffee Table (Cam Shepa)

2022’s The Coffee Table (La Mesita del Comedor) was a ‘festival sensation’ with audiences and critics alike. Writer and director Caye Casa could have expected an English language remake for the usual reasons. But I suspect a Turkish one was unexpected.

Those familiar with the original won’t find too much of a deviation from the central premise. Couple Ibrahim (Alper Kul) and Zehra (Algi Eke) have a spat in front of a salesperson who is trying to offload a hideous coffee table. He loves it, she hates it, the seller just wants a sale.

Ibrahim gets his way, and the table is bought and delivered. Zehra is out shopping to prepare a meal for a dinner party. Ibrahim is left with a screw missing from the table and also looking after the baby. Those who know, know.

While there is a lot familiar writer/director Can Evrenol has made adjustments to some of the characters and the tone of the film. Some have been tweaked, others more obvious changes and the comic tone has been pushed forward. There was always a dark humour about the original but here its more evident, and possibly more daring. It is also far more explicit in certain sequences.

At the centre is Ibrahim who is in a mental spiral of fear, lies and deception, while also having to deal with the physical attentions of the salesperson and deluded teenager Sibel (Elif Sevniç). He’s mocked by his wife for his gullibility regarding the table (possibly a purchase of spite on his part as a way of asserting himself) though eventually the family (his brother and his girlfriend are over for dinner) start to suspect a mental breakdown. It’s a sublime performance from Kul.

It will be interesting to see if there is now a spate of ‘coffee table’ films from around the world, presumably each trying to rework the fundamentals and compete to create the most horrible table.

The Turkish Coffee Table had its UK premiere at FrightFest Halloween 2025.