电影以安纳托利亚为故事背景。长达3个多小时的片子，一大半时间，剧中主人公用极度文学化的对白谈论宗教、社会、人生和哲学，还有爱情。始终精致艺术化的镜头，加上文艺的对白，让原本就知识分子气十足的作品面对大众显得更加晦涩。摄像出身、对画面一向考究的锡兰，新片中依旧保持了影像的精致，每一个镜头的移动和调度依旧分毫不差。从来就被锡兰刻意省略的对白，新片中成为最大特色和力量根基所在。犀利而细腻的对白像把双刃刀，喜欢的人视做珍宝，从中获得哲学思辨和人生省悟，不喜欢的人感受到枯燥说教，坐立不安。锡兰舍得下时间来铺垫，不紧不慢的生活，主人公们不经意的懒散讨论、一点点开始浸透到他们的内心世界中。就在观众以为影片就会这样平淡枯燥的结束、开始失望、烦躁、昏昏欲睡，所有的累积沉淀却开始爆发，人性与人性在足够尖锐的对白中猛烈对撞，人间万象也在言语间缤纷呈现，爱、爱的结束、罪恶、财富、宗教、社会等级、人与人的关系，《冬眠》借助安纳托利亚背景，优雅的音乐和布景、节奏、景框和画面，把这个层次丰富多样，复杂的世界人生浓缩到他的小旅馆。
位于亚洲西南部的安纳托利亚，一个远离城镇的蛮荒山区，肃杀静谧。正是黄昏时分，自山路的另一头驶来三辆汽车，最终停靠在路边一处喷泉旁边。车上的人走下来，似乎在辨认着什么东西。原来不久前发生一起命案，嫌疑人将尸体掩埋在荒原的某个角落。被捕后，嫌疑人带着当地的警察、法医、来自主城镇的检察官以及其他不同身份的人四处寻找藏尸地点。犯人依稀记得几个标志性物件，却无法确定哪里才是真正的藏尸地。这群人彻夜奔波在山谷中，无聊之时便随意聊天，诉说着心中的隐秘以及对现状的不满。漫漫长夜似无尽头……
时代背景是十九世纪末的土耳其，年轻的希腊男孩在康士坦丁堡为富商辛勤工作，但生活却充满了难堪与迫害。当他知道美国这块梦幻中的乐土之后，便千里迢迢移民美国追寻梦想。
故事发生在60年代的一个巴黎小镇上。男主角（奥玛 沙里夫 饰）是个阿拉伯人，年迈的他开了间卖杂货的小店维持生活。头发花白的他非常孤独，却是个善良的老人，直到有一天一个犹太小男孩莫莫（皮埃尔·布朗格 饰）的出现，才打破了他寂寞的生活，一老一少，两个不同种族的人走到一起，在他们之间产生了忘年的友谊，也从对方身上找到了生活的乐趣。
After living 45 years in Germany, the Turkish Hüseyin Yilmaz, seventy, announces to his family that he has bought a house in Turkey and they should return to make the necessary reforms. The idea is unwelcome and causes very heated discussions. In addition, Canan, a granddaughter of Hüseyin, announces she is pregnant and the father is her English boyfriend, and no one knew anything.
A dramatised documentary about the life of Rumi, a Persian mystical poet whose images of universal love and divine mystery continue to be celebrated more than 700 years after his death.
Elissa's life takes a turn when she meets a mysterious man in her English class and she has to quickly decide between her family and him- and going from family-life to a life on the run is a wild choice to everyone but her.
Ahmet, a Turkish guy in his early twenties visit his grandfather's abandoned mansion located somewhere in the northern Anatolia. Thinking that he would return to where he spent his early childhood, only to find out that the place is now in ruins. When he goes to sleep. An unexpected angel will visit him to give her a blessing of the truth. He wakes up being not the guy he was before.