Three Thousand Years of Longing

Three Thousand Years of Longing, starring Tilda Swinton as a bookish, reclusive scholar named Alithea Binnie who unwittingly unleashes a Djinn (Idris Elba) from a bottle during a business trip to Istanbul. As is customary, the Djinn offers Alithea three wishes that will fulfill her heart’s desires, but being a well-read woman, she’s wary of the gesture. She knows how many stories involving Djinn end with the wisher being tricked into something they didn’t really want. To try to convince her she’s not going to end up like the others, the Djinn proceeds to tell three stories from his past that will not only explain how he ended up in the particular bottle Alithea bought, but also how he ended up on the wrong end of the wish transaction on multiple occasions. The Djinn’s stories wind their way through part of Turkish history, starting with the Queen of Sheba (yes, she may not have really existed, but this is just a story) and proceeding through the court of Suleiman the Magnificent, the reign of Murad IV and Ibrahim, and finally with the Djinn ending up in the hands of the wife of a Turkish merchant. The stories flip between flashbacks and the present day in Alithea’s hotel room. Eventually she uses one of her wishes and she and the Djinn develop a close relationship that continues after her return to London.