4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS and 2 DAYS

Director: Cristian Mungiu
Cast: Anamaria Marinca, Vlad Ivanov, Laura Vasiliu, Alexandru  Potocean
Run Time: 113 minutes
Country: Romania
Language: Romanian with English subtitles
Rating: 14A (Scene of abortion)

The list of the Cannes Film Festival‘s Palme d‘Or winners includes some of the greatest talents in recent cinema. These masters are now joined by Cristian Mungiu, a relatively unknown, young Romanian director whose second feature is the latest to be accorded this high cinematic laurel. The first in a planned series called Tales from the Golden Age, the film 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS – a Special Presentation at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival® – tells the incredibly powerful story of a young woman who un-dergoes an underground abortion in small-town Romania during the dying days of Communist rule.  When the flighty Găbiţa (Laura Vasiliu) decides to terminate her pregnancy – a crime in Romania from 1966 until 1989 – her fiercely loyal university dorm-mate and best friend, Otilia (Anamaria Marinca), accompanies her to a hotel room to be ―helped by one Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov), the only black-market practitioner they can afford. When the foul Bebe requests something far more precious than money for his services, the girls descend into a harrowing journey of the soul that is nothing short of shattering. Taking place over a single Saturday in 1987, the film holds an enormous emotional gravitas. It evolves into a profound exploration not only of soror-ity in harsh times but of choices and responsibility when options are few.

Mungiu‘s dark tale brilliantly captures the decrepit spaces of the dour Romanian eighties – due in no small part to the cinematogra-phy of Oleg Mutu (THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU), who mines poetry from the grimiest environs. Mungiu‘s leads carry the film with impeccable naturalism, especially Marinca as the noble Otilia (the scene in which she must endure a dinner with her boyfriend‘s horrid family defines ―discomfort). The dialogue is spare and authentic, music is non-existent and each scene unfolds in a single take, shot with a steady camera that captures the characters‘ tortured hearts. While there is little relief from desperation in Mungiu‘s not-so-distant Romania, the note-perfect mastery of his filmmaking offers no small degree of transcendence.

“Pitch perfect and brilliantly acted, ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days‘  is a stunning achievement …” – Jay Weissberg, Variety

Reviews: www.metacritic.com/film/titles/4months3weeksand2days