Hamdi, the eager-to-please local imam, brings the young İlyas to Aydın in an attempt to make amends for the glass-breaking incident.

Nihal learns that İsmail was unemployed after a prison sentence for stabbing a lingerie thief and that İlyas had been suffering from pneumonia.

[7] Besides having Chekhov's "The Wife" as inspiration, the film uses a subplot of "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, specifically of Book Four: Lacerations.

In both, the film and the book, it is revealed that the boys' shame and anger about their respective fathers (Snegiryov in Dostoyevsky's novel, İsmail in Winter Sleep) being humiliated in times of hardships are the cause of their behavior.

Snegiryov was assaulted by Dmitri, Alyosha's Brother, while İsmail's was beaten by the police for trying to resist the collection agency sent on Aydın's behalf.

The site's critical consensus reads: "Epic in length, thrilling to behold, and utterly absorbing, Winter Sleep demands – and rewards – viewers' patient attention".

Huffington Post reviewer Karin Badt called the film a "masterpiece" and noted that there is "movement and growth and self-realization" in the characters and none of them are "black-and-white".

[21] Way Too Indie awarded the film 9.7 points out of 10, commenting: "What Bela Tarr did with images, Nuri Bilge Ceylan accomplishes with dialogue; one hundred percent inclusive assimilation.

If you put your trust in Ceylan and his troupe of brilliant actors, every action will reveal deeper meanings, every frame will contain significant details, and you will leave the theater completely nourished".

The reviewer added: "The pacing of Ceylan's latest will inevitably be a hurdle for many viewers, as a slow-burn beginning with numerous scenes of dialogue played out in full gets even more unhurried in a pair of marathon confrontations".

When the snow season approaches and the guests depart, the tension between Aydın, his wife, his sister who lives with him, and the village people takes over by long dialogues.

Variety reviewer Justin Chang[27] notes that the argument between Hidayet and İsmail in the beginning of the film all happens "while Aydın keeps a timid distance [and this is] just a minor example of his complacency and casual indifference to the suffering around him".

Collin[26] wrote: It turns out that most people have at least one very good reason to dislike Aydin: even his wife, whose charity fundraising efforts he dismisses laughingly, criticising the state of her bookkeeping like a teacher ticking off a particularly slow pupil.

Only one man, the obsequious imam, makes a concerted effort to get along with him, although Aydin is annoyed by his flattering talk and insincere, teeth-baring grins, and obliquely insults him in his newspaper column.

Aydın's comfort is, however, "challenged by the conversations that ensue between him and the poor family, his wife and his sister on topics ranging from civic responsibility to evil".

[29] Jane Campion, Jury President, said at a press conference after the awards program that "the film had such a beautiful rhythm and took me in.

"[30] The longest film in competition by far, Winter Sleep's Palme d'Or marked the culmination of the career of Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who has twice received the festival's second-place honor, the Grand Prix (for 2002's Uzak and for 2011's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) and who won a directing prize for 2008's Three Monkeys.

Ceylan said in his acceptance speech that it was "a great surprise" when he took the stage, noting that it was perhaps a fitting choice in a year that marked the 100th anniversary of Turkish cinema.

He also mentioned the workers who were killed in the Soma mine disaster, which occurred on the day prior to the commencement of the awards event.