Francesco and Marta are an Italian pair. They fight constantly, are unfaithful to each other, and take the other as a rival. But they are a married couple like Pope wants it. Both yearn for a change. An aunt dies and leaves a fortune but it is in Turkey. Francesco leaves for Istanbul. He finds a different kind of life, men who are more sensitive and able to listen each other, to share experiences, and eager to listen. He finds Mehmet, in years younger but humanly more mature. Mehmet's family and friends open Francesco's eyes to a world more friendly, more meaningful and full of tasks better scaled for a man. He also finds out that man and woman may live together but without family are doomed to be unhappy: they eat each other out. He falls in love with Mehmet. Marta follows to Istanbul and finds out the change. Her pride and her title to marriage are hurt but she also feels certain freedom. Francesco dies later and Marta understands her aunt's letters: as a free woman in Turkey she needs no men to be paired with. Men and women are citizens of same planet but their life are only parallel to each other, not together.
Review of Steam: The Turkish Bath
