4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
Friday, 11 Jan 2008 18:37
Vlad Ivanov and Anamaria Marinca star in the gruelling Romanian drama
Directed by Cristian Mungiu, out January 11th, in cinemas, starring Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov, Alexandru Potocean, running time 113 mins.
In a nutshell…
Award-winning abortion drama
What's it all about?
Communist Romania, 1987. When young student Gabita (Vasiliu) decides to terminate her unwanted pregnancy, the prohibitive abortion laws force her and roommate Otilia (Marinca) into a life-changing day that risks more than just a prison term. Director Cristian Mungiu tracks the gritty dilemma through the course of one exhausting day in this gruelling winner of the Palme d'Or.
Who's in it?
Anamaria Marinca impresses as the determined Otilia while Vlad Ivanov humanises the fearsome black market doctor Mr Bebe through some moving scenes of tough love with his elderly mother. But unless you're Romanian, the majority of the actors will be strangers to you.
As an example…
"What, no kiss?" - Adi
"No, you p****d me off." - Otilia
"I thought it was best" - Gabita
"Yes? Best stop thinking." - Mr Bebe
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars?
While it is a shoo-in for a nomination in the best foreign film category, the Palme d'Or win remains confusing in comparison with the exceptional The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, given 4 Months' largely mediocre cinematography, commendable but hardly exceptional acting and a central theme laid on with a painfully earnest amount of emphasis.
What the others say
"Never surrendering its grip on the viewer, 4 Months is the rare film with gravity and speed - a moral tale in the form of a suspense thriller." - Dennis Lim, Los Angeles Times
"A typically bleak and slow-paced kitchen-sink drama." - David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
So is it any good?
Distinctly disappointing. While the intent is admirable, it's handled with next to no subtlety and any acknowledgment of the appalling hardships of communist rule and its harsh doctrines is lost to a nagging sense that we're being treated to a history lesson.
Only through entering this film completely cold could the true gravity of Gabita and Otilia's predicament fully strike home - after winning one of the biggest prizes in world cinema, we're well aware that this is the "Romanian abortion drama", which undeniably lessens its impact. That's not to say that preconceptions about abortion aren't challenged and the sparseness of the script only helps to create a realism which raises important questions about the sanctity of life, personal protest and the brutality of totalitarian rule.
However, Mungiu's direction only shines in the unbearably tense final act, with Otilia's efforts to dispose of the foetus shot with a juddery steadicam, creating a documentary feel similar to that favoured by Paul Greengrass. The abject terror of the situation is effectively translated and Mungiu handles the climax with an intensity redolent of a claustrophobic horror.
But when we're treated to an overly lengthy, paralysing shot of the incriminating result of the girls' actions, any messages about sacrifice, desperate measures or the human spirit are lost through the feeling that Mungiu's battering you over the head with the appalling truths of Communism and abortion.
Admirably tense but ultimately heavy-handed.
5/10
Lewis Bazley
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