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Rating: 4 luni, 3 saptamini si 2 zile (4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days)
Cast Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov, Alex Potocean, Luminita Gheorghiu, Adi Carauleanu.
Director Cristian Mungiu
Screenplay Cristian Mungiu
Duration Color 01:53:00
Production Romania 2007
Release date Friday, August 24, 2007
Genre Drama
Distributed by LUCKY RED
Fixed plans, sparse and direct dialogues in a bleak and desolating scenario describe a story like many others in 1980s Romania; a story that unites the tragic social and cultural context linked to a harsh and ruthless regime with the private drama of abortion.
Bucharest, in the years leading up to the fall of Ceausescu's regime: Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) is a student in her early twenties forced "by law" into an illegal abortion.
In tragedy and pain, which becomes cold indifference, Gabita is not alone; it is Otilia (Anamaria Marinca), her roommate in the Polytechnic dormitory, who helps her organize the procedure in a shabby hotel room.
The film" 4 luni, 3 saptamini si 2 zile" (4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days) by Cristian Mungiu is the first in a series of feature films titled "Tales from the Golden Age" with which he aims to retrace the history of communism in Romania through stories and testimonies of ordinary people who lived through those years when the normalcy of an ordinary day gradually turned into drama.
Mungiu conveys to the viewer a veiled and paradoxically normal repression, reconstructing a society where human rights become optional, where an improvised doctor (Vlad Ivanov) who will perform a risky and secret abortion paid dearly, not just economically, transforms from tormentor to savior.
Despite belonging to that land described with skill and intelligence, Mungiu neither judges nor issues sentences, leaving us speechless when the sad and desolate image of the fetus abandoned on the bathroom floor becomes part of that banal greyness.
An intersection without emphasis that, with a few strokes, vividly draws the characters, all made human and relatable to the viewer by the absolute veracity and impeccable performance of the actors, coupled with an apt and functional dubbing.
The film, a historical document of that period, well deserved the Palme d'Or, an encouraging recognition for a young and brave author like Cristian Mungiu and for the cultural integration of Romania, which has recently become part of the European Union.
Lisa Bencivenni
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Other reviews
By enbar77
Life is consumed between waxing, something warm to ward off the imposed harshness of winter temperatures.
The total absence of music, the deliberately cold colors of beautiful cinematography characterize this film, creating an absolutely heavy atmosphere.
