Three Thousand Years of Longing Review

George Miller’s newest movie, Three Thousand Years of Longing, is a movie about storytellers and the stories they tell. Alithea (Tilda Swinton) is content and successful narratologist in London.

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Three Thousand Years of Longing Review

She lives a happy, mostly solitary life wrapped up in the comfort of stories. She’s not a recluse, but she is fulfilled by her own company.

While souvenir shopping on a business trip to Turkey, she is taken by an unusual bottle that she purchases. Using her electric toothbrush to clean the bottle, she unleashes a Djinn (Idris Elba) into the modern world.

Unlike Alithea who is at ease with herself, the Djinn longs for company and love (and not just because he gets stuck in his bottle for thousands of years without it).

He genuinely cares about his captors and in some cases yearns for their love. This Djinn isn’t the usual prankster that tricks people into catastrophic wishes but he doesn’t stop them when they do it to themselves.

Alithea is a patient listener as the Djinn recounts his story, but she is hesitant to make a wish herself. One could imagine this story could easily fit into the book One Thousand and One Nights.

This is a big and splashy movie that feels like an arthouse gem. The film is lavish and luscious and should be enjoyed on the big screen. Though remembering the past, the movie isn’t dated. It lovingly combines old tales with modern sensibilities.

At its heart, Three Thousand Years of Longing is a love story so it’s perfect for a date night. Leave the kids at home (perhaps with George Miller’s Babe for company!) and enjoy some adult time.

About the Movie:

Dr. Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is an academic – content with life and a creature of reason. While in Istanbul attending a conference, she happens to encounter a Djinn (Idris Elba) who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom.

This presents two problems. First, she doubts that he is real, and second, because she is a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The Djinn pleads his case by telling her fantastical stories of his past. Eventually, she is beguiled and makes a wish that surprises them both.

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