Three Monkeys (2009) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Servet is a politician whose career would be destroyed if the hit-and-run became public. He pleads with his loyal driver Eyüp to confess to the crime, promising financial compensation: a lump sum after release and continued salary for Eyüp's family during the prison term. Servet chooses to protect his political future by sacrificing someone he has power over.

Foreshadowing: The film opens with Servet fighting sleep while campaigning, establishing his exhaustion and carelessness that leads to the accident.

• servet
• eyup
• hit-and-run
• confession
• politician
• blame

Eyüp agrees because he believes the sentence will only be 6 to 12 months, making it seem like a manageable sacrifice. Additionally, Servet promises to pay him a lump sum after release and continue his salary while he's incarcerated. Eyüp reasons this will provide financial security for his wife Hacer and son İsmail during his absence.

Foreshadowing: Eyüp lives with his family in the poor coastal neighborhood of Yedikule near railroad tracks, showing their precarious financial situation.

• eyup
• servet
• prison
• deal
• financial security
• family

Hacer goes to Servet's office after an election to request the money he promised. Servet, whose election did not go well, offers her a ride home instead of immediate payment. During this car ride, the affair begins. Hacer reluctantly accepts the lift, hoping it will help her struggling family, but this decision leads to a secret relationship.

Foreshadowing: The family cannot afford a car, which becomes relevant when İsmail suggests driving children between home and school as income.

• hacer
• servet
• affair
• money
• ride
• relationship

İsmail discovers that his mother Hacer is having an affair with Servet. Rather than telling his father Eyüp, İsmail keeps this knowledge to himself. The discovery appears to enrage him enough to murder Servet, though the exact motivation is left somewhat ambiguous. The film suggests his action stems from a combination of anger at Servet for corrupting his family and possibly protecting his father's dignity by not revealing the betrayal.

Foreshadowing: İsmail already struggles with street altercations and injuries, showing a propensity for violence when provoked.

• ismail
• servet
• murder
• affair
• mother
• betrayal

After learning that his son İsmail killed Servet, Eyüp seeks guidance at a mosque and then finds Bayram, a poor man who works and sleeps in a tea house. Eyüp proposes that Bayram take the blame for the murder, promising compensation in return. This mirrors Servet's original offer and suggests the cyclical nature of exploitation, those who are victimized by powerful men often become complicit in the same systems of coercion when given no other options.

Foreshadowing: Eyüp returns from prison to find his family falling apart, learning that his wife betrayed him with the same man who destroyed his life.

• eyup
• bayram
• deal
• cycle
• exploitation
• blame

After Eyüp is released from prison, Hacer wants to continue her affair with Servet, but Servet refuses. He makes it clear he does not intend to pursue the relationship further. This leaves Hacer trapped in her own desires while Servet moves on, contributing to the family's breakdown and the emotional turmoil that follows.

• servet
• hacer
• affair
• refuse
• relationship

A car containing a couple stops briefly at the accident scene but then drives away in panic, leaving Servet alone to deal with the aftermath. This moment shows the moral failure of witnesses who choose self-preservation over responsibility, paralleling Servet's own choice to flee. The couple's decision to leave emboldens Servet's fear of exposure and his subsequent decision to cover up the accident.

Foreshadowing: This mirrors the theme of people making compromises under pressure, setting up the central moral dilemma of the film.

• accident
• car
• witness
• hit-and-run
• panic

İsmail discovers his mother is having an affair with Servet but chooses not to tell his father. He keeps the information to himself, perhaps to protect Eyüp from the painful truth or because he doesn't know how to handle the situation. His silence allows the affair to continue until violence erupts, suggesting the destructive power of unspoken secrets within a family.

Foreshadowing: Eyüp later discovers the truth during police interrogation after Servet's murder, which devastates him.

• ismail
• affair
• secret
• father
• mother
• silence

The title references the proverb 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.' Throughout the film, characters repeatedly choose ignorance and silence over confronting uncomfortable truths, from Servet fleeing the scene, to Eyüp taking the blame without questioning the moral cost, to İsmail hiding his mother's affair. The title captures the film's central theme of moral evasion and the consequences of deliberately ignoring wrongdoing.

Foreshadowing: The film deliberately avoids showing explicit violence or confrontation, instead focusing on what characters choose not to see or say.

• title
• three monkeys
• proverb
• see no evil
• theme
• moral

During Eyüp's nine months in prison, the family dynamics shift significantly. İsmail continues failing his college entrance exams and gets involved with questionable street friends, causing his mother Hacer to worry. The financial pressure pushes Hacer to meet with Servet, leading to their affair. When Eyüp returns, he senses something is off, and the family balance has already been compromised by secrets and betrayal.

Foreshadowing: Eyüp returns to find his wife in love with another man, a direct consequence of his absence and the financial desperation that forced her to seek help.

• eyup
• prison
• family
• changes
• financial pressure
• affair