4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Golden Palm in Cannes was fully well-deserved: a strong hit, at moments even painful. The Romanian director skilfully combined the aesthetics of a documentary (long shots, usually as long as the scenes, static camera, as in The Big Brother, natural dialogues) with tension worthy of a genuine thriller. The plot is set at the end of the communist era in Romania, probably the only country of the former bloc where abortion was illegal. (...). A woman who wanted to break this law (...) risked not only being condemned by court, but above all to become a victim of hardly bearable humiliation (...). This is what happens to the heroes of Mungiu's film, two friends and students of the technical university, who share a room at a students' hostel in Bucharest - Otilia and Gabita. Gabita is pregnant and she wants to have an abortion, but the situation is so oppressing that the girl is almost paralysed.
awards
Cannes IFF 2007 - Golden Palm, FIPRESCI Prize; European Film Awards 2007 - Best Director, Best Film; San Sebastián IFF 2007 - FIPRESCI Prize
Cristian Mungiu
Cristian Mungiu is a director, screenwriter, and producer. He was the first-and so far only-Romanian director to win a Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, an honor he received in 2007 for his film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. Mungiu's international career was in fact launched in Cannes, with his 2002 feature debut, Occident. A story of people from Central Europe attempting to make it to the West, the film was screened as part of the Director's Fortnight section. A decade later (following the success of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days), his Beyond the Hills, based on the work of author Tatiana Niculescu Bran, captured an award at Cannes for Best Screenplay, as well as awards for Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan in the Best Actress category. The film was also recognized by the European Film Academy, the Caesars, Italy's David di Donatello Awards, and the European Parliament's LUX Awards. At this year's Cannes Festival, Mungiu screened his latest work, Graduation (Best Director). Mungiu's intimate stories, which explore issues of enslavement and alienation, deal as much with changes in Romanian society at the turn of the century as they do with the human condition itself.
Selected filmography
2002 Zachód / Occident
2007 4 miesiące, 3 tygodnie i 2 dni / 4 luni, 3 săptămâni și 2 zile / 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
2012 Za wzgórzami / După dealuri / Beyond the Hills
2016 Egzamin / Bacalaureat / Graduation