Four Months, Three Weeks & Two Days

 Got half way to work yesterday and just thought ‘naah, can’t be bothered’ so decided to go suit shopping and take in a movie instead – one of the joys of working for yourself. Slim pickings at the cinema at the moment until the final Oscar release push by the studios so I opted for ‘Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days’, a film I knew very little about other than it’s set in eastern Europe, it won the Palme d’Or at Canne last year and has been universally praised by the critics. 1987, Ceausescu’s Romania. Two students, Otilia and Gabita hire a hotel room and arrange for a meeting with the menacing Mr. Bebe – Gabita is pregnant and abortion is strictly forbidden in the communist state forcing young women to turn to the black market. Mr. Bebe’s questioning of Gabita reveals that she is four, not two months pregnant which leads him to make a sickening proposal to the girls if they wish him to continue with the illegal termination….

As you’d imagine from the subject matter, time period and locale this isn’t exactly a laugh a minute knockabout comedy. Director Cristian Mungiu has opted (appropriately) for a naturalistic approach which makes the film feel like an eastern European Ken Loach film – Long takes help scenes breathe, the film employs static mid-shots rather than any obtrusive, distracting camera work and there is no soundtrack or score. It doesn’t pull its punches when it comes to the medical procedure and aftermath nor in it’s depiction of a sombre, restricted communist society. I can’t say I ‘enjoyed’ it or indeed could see why it was receiving such universal goodwill – don’t get me wrong, it’s very effective and compelling in it’s grim realism – but I’ve seen similar films before so it’s not exactly the breakthrough triumph it’s claimed to be other than being Romanian. Still, recommended for a more serious cinematic experience.

One crucial advantage the film has is the presence of Ana Maria Marinca who is a very brave actress and I think we will be seeing much more of her in the months and years to come  – she crafted a heartbreaking performance in ‘Sex Traffic’ which was one of the very few TV drama’s I’ve watched in the past few years which genuinely moved me and I think she may, if the stars are in alignment, garner an Oscar nomination for this role.