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Pages tagged “cristian mungiu”

Filmmaker to Watch: Cristian Mungiu

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photo by Mobra Films/Adi Paduretu

Whenever abortion is a major plot point in a film, it’s natural for viewers to try to immediately suss out the perspective of the filmmaker—whose propaganda are they about to endure? But in the case of 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, Romanian writer/director Cristian Mungiu never seems like he’s trying to win audiences over to a particular way of thinking.

“I knew from the beginning that I wanted the film to just stay a film, and I wanted to tell a story,” he says. “I hope that the story is going to be important for some people, and [that] it’s going to, I don’t know, make them think. But I never wanted to pass any kind of judgment. I just relate what I remember to be the truth from that period, hoping that it’s universal enough for people even today to think about it and make their own conclusions.”

The film follows two roommates at a Romanian university in the late ’80s, a period when abortion was outlawed and both the underground physicians and the women they serviced faced stiff jail sentences for terminating pregnancies. It’s a story based on true events that were recounted to Mungiu 15 years ago, and one that touches him personally.

“I was born in 1968 as a result of this law that interdicted abortion in Romania, and this is something that our parents would never hide from us. So, all of a sudden, I was one of the very many children of this baby-booming Romania.”

Leading up to the illicit operation, the characters are frustrated at every turn—from trying to buy cigarettes to making a hotel reservation—with the oppressiveness of the last days of Communism growing more palpable with each moment. Still, there’s humanity even in those responsible for the worst abuses of power, reflecting Mungiu’s view of this period in Romanian history.

“I don’t like having black and white characters; positive and negative guys. I’ve never met anybody who is like a complete moron or very stupid. No, people do good things and bad things, and overall [the abortionist in the film] is not a positive character. He’s doing a lousy thing in the film, but still it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have a mother and that society treats him badly. It’s very likely … he feels inclined to treat the others badly because this was a time when this is the way you were treated by everybody that had authority.”

Mungiu plans to further explore this period with both features and shorts in a series he calls Tales From the Golden Age, an ironic reference to the last 15 years of Nicolae Ceauescu’s rule—and he’ll leave the judgments to his ever-growing audience.


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4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

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Release Date: Jan. 23 (limited)
Director/writer: Cristian Mungiu
Cinematographer: Oleg Mutu
Starring: Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov
Studio/Running Time: IFC Films, 113 mins.

One of the central arguments for the legalization of abortion is that regardless of legality, abortions will happen. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days applies this line of thinking to the context of 1987 Romania where abortion had been banned 20 years previous. Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) spends a day of her life assisting her immature roommate Gabriela 'Gabita' Dragut (Laura Vasiliu) with the clandestine procedure, working through complications in the process but ultimately having a more difficult time dealing with the trauma of the event on a personal level.

Much of 4 months’ power comes from its sobriety. The film is shot simply, with handheld cameras almost always fixed in position. Most scenes consist of one shot without interruption or digression. Not only does this make for a striking contrast to normal cut rates in films, but more importantly, it’s indicative of how director Cristian Mungiu wishes to deal with such a delicate subject. Nothing is hidden, and there is no cutting away from the intensity of the situation at any time, which makes 4 Months painfully confrontational but also emotionally direct during every moment. In this bleak situation, the viewers are just as incapable of running from the film’s horrors as its heroines are.

Due to this ostensibly-simple-though-actually-quite-accomplished method of filmmaking, 4 Months is forced to rely on its actors and actresses' performances for strength. Fortunately, the characters in the film are universally moving, and Mungiu seems to have a knack for letting their emotions carry each scene to its appropriate climax. While Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov), hired to perform the abortion, may hinder the women’s progress, in no point is he or anyone else villainized. Rather, his exasperation seems honest and human. There are no bad guys, the film seems to say, only bad situations. This faith in the world is both honest and heartbreaking considering the womens’ situation, but most importantly, it has more than a bit of truth to it.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days does not blaze trails stylistically, choosing instead to operate within a type of verite realism defined by the likes of the Dardenne brothers, Alfonso Cuarón and Romania's own The Death of Mr. Lazarescu. It is also not the first film to deal maturely with abortion, though unfortunately, these instances are quite infrequent. What it does do, though, is fuse these two aspects together to create a cinematic experience like none other. While other films may be just as engaging due to wit or sheer spectacle, few have ever been as affecting on an emotional level.

To read the Film Clips piece from issue 39 featuring an interview with director Cristian Mungiu, click here.

View the trailer for 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days:


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