4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days ¢ ni? I 2 zile ) is a 2007 Romanian art film with elements of drama and thriller, written and directed by Cristian Mungiu and starring Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu and Vlad Ivanov. The film is set in Romanian Communist in the last years of Nicolae Ceau era? Escu. It tells the story of two students, roommates at the university dorm, who are trying to get an illegal abortion. Inspired by an anecdote of the period and general social historical context, it illustrates the loyalties of both friends and the struggles they face.
Mungiu and cinematographer Oleg Mutu shot him in Bucharest and other Romanian locations in 2006. After making his world premiere in Cannes, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days made his Romanian debut on June 1, 2007, at the International Film Festival Transilvania. It opened to critical acclaim, and is famous for its minimalist and intense themes.
The film won three awards at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, including the Palme d'Or . The film went on to win many awards, including Best Film at the European Film Awards and the Romanian national Gopo Awards. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days are the subject of some controversy about censorship, abortion debates and exceptions from the 80th Academy Awards, but has been considered one of the major films of the 2000s.
Video 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Plot
In 1987, two students in an unnamed Romanian city, Otilia Mihartescu and Gabriela "G? Bi? A" Dragut, were roommates in the dorm. When G? Bi? A became pregnant, two young women arranged a meeting with Mr. Bebe at a hotel, where he had an illegal abortion. In the campus dorm, G? Bi? A and Otilia review the items they need for the day. Like G? Bi? Nervously sitting and waiting, Otilia barter and buy soap and cigarettes from the dorm store. After that, Otilia took a bus to visit his girlfriend Adi, from whom he borrowed money. Adi asked Otilia to visit his family that night, because this was his mother's birthday. Otilia initially refused, succumbing after Adi became annoyed.
Otilia to Unirea hotel where G? Bi? A have booked the room, only to be told by the unfriendly receptionist that there is no reservation under the last name G? Bi? A. As a result, Otilia visits another hotel, Tineretului, and after many begging and haggling, can book a room at an expensive rate. After talking to G? Bi? On the phone, Otilia goes to the meeting place to meet Mr. Bebe, even though he has asked G? Bi? That she met him personally. Mr. Bebe became angry when he heard that G'i? Nothing in the hotel is planned.
At Tineretului, Mr. Bebe finds that G claims? Bi? A that her pregnancy in the second or third month is a lie, and that's been at least four months. This changed the procedure and also increased the risk of murder allegations. While the two women were convinced that they would pay no more than 3,000 lei for an abortion, it slowly became clear that Mr. Bebe expects both women to have sex with her. Desperate and depressed, Otilia had sex with Mr. Bebe so she would not walk out on them, as did G'bi? A. Pak Bebe then performs an abortion by injecting an unnamed probe and fluid into the uterus G? Bi? A, and leave Otilia instructions on how to get rid of the fetus when out. Otilia exasperated by G lies? Bi? A, but continues to help and care for her.
Otilia leave G? Bi? A in Tineretului to attend Adi's birthday party. She is still annoyed but nonetheless and has dinner with friends of mother Adi, who is mostly a doctor. They talked about trivia while Otilia and Adi remained silent. After Otilia received a cigarette in front of Adi's parents, one of the guests started talking about missing values ​​and respect for parents. Adi and Otilia retreated to his room, where he told him about Gór's abortion. They began to debate what would happen if Otilia was pregnant, as Adi opposed abortion. After the argument, Otilia calls G? Bi? A from Adi's house. G? Bi? A did not answer, so Otilia decided to return to the hotel.
When Otilia entered the hotel room, she lay in bed, and she told Otilia that the fetus had been expelled and was in the bathroom. Otilia wraps the fetus with some towels and puts them in bags, while G'bi? Who asked him to bury it. Otilia walked outside, finally climbing to the top of the building, as Pak Bebe had suggested, and dropping the bag into the trash. He returns to Tineretului and finds G? Bi? A person sitting in his restaurant. Otilia sat down and told G? Bi? That they will never talk about the episode again. Otilia stared blankly at G? Bi? A.
Maps 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Production
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Romanian Communist Party leader Nicolae Ceau? Escu enacted the 770 Abortion Act of 770 in 1966 to increase the population, which fell in the 1960s and continued to decline, in addition to one year after the decision came into force. This procedure is permitted only in very limited circumstances. The law is not based on religious opposition to abortion, but on government authority and control over its citizens. Academician Adriana Gradea further states that the justification for the edict makes the view of women as second-class citizens, without the right to be heard. In the 1980s, the decree was reinforced to mandate gynecological promises, to assess whether women could reproduce. Writer Dominique Nasta rated the film as an accurate portrait of oppression, and about the poor state of Romanian economy in the late Ceau regime? Escu.
During the years of Decree 770, the only abortion methods available, all illegal, could be fatal to women, causing thousands of deaths. According to Mungiu's records he distributed with the press, the death toll was 500,000. Gradea cites an estimated 10,000. Sanctions against contraception also apply, and sex education is very rare. After the 1989 Revolution, abortion was made legitimate, and then not limited in the first 14 weeks.
Development
The initial idea for 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days was inspired by an anecdote from Romanian Communist director Cristian Mungiu has heard. Although he had heard it from a friend 15 years before the film, the incident happened five years before that, in 1987, the date Mungiu recorded in the scenario. Mungiu, himself a woman born during the 770s Decision, wanted to make a serious film focusing on a true story, which still affected him and felt tragic over 15 years later. He conducted interviews with others living during that period, to determine if the experience was common. In addition to anecdotes, depicting the 1980s in Romania is interesting because he remembers the time, and "The appeal is to the stories I know from that period, they belong to me, they belong to my generation." He hopes that basing the story on factual reports will also distinguish him from previous Romanian films:
I remember watching many examples of Romanian cinema propaganda and thinking nothing like it ever happened to us. These people speak the same language but still look like strangers.
In setting out to write scenarios, he intended to focus less on abortion, and more on his time and his people. He said, "It's also a film about responsibility and decision making". As he continues writing, he suggests pushing political points is not a factor in editing, since he chose not to remove potential scenes if they feel trustworthy, asking "Has this happened, and does it make sense for a Save story?"
Mungiu revised the scenario several times during production, creating 17 drafts. The main revision was the emergence of Otilia as a single protagonist, while the G part? Bi? A decreases. In Mungiu's mind, Otilia has been determined to help G? R? A because their shared life in the dorm for four years will create an emotional bond between them. The film is produced on a budget under EUR600,000.
Casting
The foundry took place during the fall of 2006. Due to an extension of time, Mungiu sought out actors who could remember a large number of dialogues, and found that Vlad Ivanov was ideal for a 25-minute sequence.
Mungiu saw auditions of many young women for two protagonists. Anamaria Marinca did not work with Mungiu before reading the scenario, and found the story interesting. He has appeared on television, but has never appeared in a movie before. At first meeting Marinca, the director could not imagine her in the lead role, but was won when she started reading the first page of the scenario. He has experience on stage, so long taking is fun for him. Laura Vasiliu also has stage experience.
Filming
Filming began in October 2006, with the aim of completing it in May, so it can be incorporated into the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. After the scouting location during the fall, most of the filming was done in Bucharest, with some scenes filmed in a hotel in Ploie? Ti. Bucharest in 2006 no longer how it would appear in 1987, due to new windows and other additions to historic buildings. Production designer Mihaela Poenaru drew his memories of the period to prepare the site. Mr. Character Bebe is also given a red Dacia car. In some scenes, indoor locations are so small that cameras should be placed outdoors.
To highlight the emotional state of the characters, the film is taken for a long time, close-up is avoided, and scores are not used. In Mungiu's mind, this will "keep the right distance from the subject and be honest with the story". Cinematographer Oleg Mutu chose a minimalist approach, illuminating the background to display common items in 1987 while trying not to distract from the characters too much. Mutu and Mungiu have previously developed a long and medium-sized take-up formula with the director's first film, Occident . Mungiu found the dinner scene to be the hardest to hit, because putting a large number of actors in a long time made it difficult to focus. It took 17 attempts over five days to complete the scene.
In one scene, the aborted fetus is seen on the screen for approximately 14 seconds, the duration it takes the actors to convey the dialogue, with Mungiu choosing not to edit the picture because it "is part of the story". The chute displayed at the end of the movie is made for the movie, as there is nothing in the location. The crew dropped bags of cabbage and potatoes to create a sound effect.
Because Mungiu said Romania did not use streetlights in 1987, Mutu considered another way to light the last scene, where the camera would move with Marinca for 200 meters. Quality prepares lights from the roof of the building for this order, using stem and paper lanterns for the camera.
Themes and interpretations
Academic Judit Pieldner concludes the plot as "the story of friendship facing moral exams". The Florentina scholar C. Andreescu argues that two female protagonists share an emotional loyalty, while after Mr. Bebe's offense, Otilia becomes increasingly suspicious of Adi.
Professor LÃÆ'¡szlÃÆ'³ Strausz said that the film emphasizes the ways legal Romanian abortion raises an insult to the protagonist, especially between people of different authority and sex. He argues that class and generation conflicts are presented in the dinner party scene, where characters have more food than the lower classes, discuss social issues such as conscription to the Romanian Armed Forces, and treat Otilia as a representative of a "new generation" that does not appreciate what has been given. Academician Claudiu Turcu? states that a dinner scene, where characters look down on some careers and act as if smoking in front of someone ungrateful elder, shows how regressive they are. The author of Ovidius University, Ileana Jitaru, praised the film for reconstructing the "communist class ideology that divides society into 'working class' and 'intellectual'". Jitaru specifically cites the dinner scene, where conversations make a lot of difference between those with university degrees and those who do not have them. The audience boasted about being a member of the middle class, and making derogatory remarks about the origins of rural Otilia.
The term "communism" is never mentioned, the existence of Decision 770 is only implied, and the dictator Nicolae Ceau? Escu never mentioned his name. Nonetheless, communism is the main subject. Andreescu found that in many locations, a dominant force; in some, the government, while in other, underground forces or forms of Heterotopia. The hotel room where the abortion was conducted became a location outside government control. Mr. Bebe took advantage of this, boasted of his expertise and noted the risks he took, to blackmail women for sex. Turcu? instead of interpreting the scene as Mr. Bebe who presents himself as a "new man", shares the legal risk of women and openness to sexuality, when in fact it is "the cruel communists". Jump Cut author Constantin Parvulescu states " 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days delivers an astute balance of ostalgia and anti-communist warning". Parvulescu describes that the beginning gives a view of place and treasure that can be nostalgic, but this is ruled out by the crisis in communist society. Essayist Adriana Gradea suggests that silence is a movie theme, and communist citizens will use silence to defend and resist. This is seen at the end, where Otilia forbids further discussion of abortion. Lack of score can also be seen as a contribution to a delayed sense of danger.
The fact that the character lives in poverty is reflected in the scene in which Mr. Bebe greets his mother for wanting to buy sugar. When Otilia searched for Mr. Bebe, there was also a line of people seen in the queuing background for food, reflecting a lack of food security in the 1980s. In addition, characters are often disrespectful towards each other. Mungiu explains that this is related to poverty, saying "You need people in society to achieve a certain standard of living before they can be polite". The barter scene reflects how the common corporate goods in the west of the Iron Curtain are banned in Romania and are seen as a luxury.
The dinner scene reminds us of the Last Supper. The author of Doru Pop recognizes the number of different characters and there is no male Jesus, but insists that it is relevant for dinner while the tragedy is under way. Mungiu acknowledges that such similarity is unintentional, and that once he appreciates the potential analogy during production, the filmmakers add Otilia's more focused view to expressing his stress.
Style
Bachelor Dominique Nasta sees the style as "minimalist," more or less 'line' The British Film Institute writer Ben Walters judged it "simple and meticulous, with scenes consisting of only one or two shots." Walters commented on "handheld shot, , almost literally ", and on the impact of the silent scene.Journalist Brian Gibson rated photography as" patient, alert, steady in his observations of Otilia's efforts. "Surveying photography, Ileana Jitaru's academic finds" a simple, hard and realistic composition in which black humor is (s). "Jitaru also commented on the color scheme, observing the" desaturated cold colors ", especially the gray, blue and green at the beginning.In addition, his story, organized for a day, is related to real- time in the scene, although minutes or hours can separate events in separate scenes.
The Guardian ' Peter Bradshaw interprets the style as a "nightmare of social-realist tension". The Independent critic Jonathan Romney categorizes it as "claustrophobic" in part and "powerful realist exercise". Nevertheless, he also believes that the hotel scene communicates the "almost supernatural sense of horror", and asks for a voice heard after Mr. Bebe punishes his mother: "A boomerang? A shot? Who knows? But it lends a strange scene, bad sign ". Peter Debruge's criticism declares an "antithetical style of your bright and elegant Hollywood movies, or locally made movies from Mungiu's childhood".
Journalist Steven Boone says that while the film is well-viewed for its "strong fortitude, its ugliness, lack of style", it believes it is "beautiful and stylish", because it "lives and pierces the present-tense". He compared it to the Dardenne brothers. Journalist Lauren Wissot judges the story "thriller tension", comparable to Alfred Hitchcock's work. He felt "hot" in every frame, writing "we are waiting for bombs - the constant threat of imprisonment or death that defines life under Nicolae Ceaucescu". In addition to reflecting the length of the fictitious pregnancy, the title form 4-3-2 creates a hasty countdown impression that reinforces the aspect of the thriller genre, Gradea writes.
Responding to the analogy with the Dardennes style, Mungiu said in 2008 that he only saw them La Promesse (1996) but is now interested in seeing more, and that he has asked the brothers to attend his film show. Mungiu compare his style with Milo style? Forman and Ji? ÃÆ' Menzel, though he says he is more influenced by certain films than by a director's general filmography.
Release
The film debuted on the first day of the Cannes Film Festival in May 2007. In Cannes, IFC Films purchased distribution rights for the United States. After the festival, distribution rights for 60 countries have been sold. In September 2007, he competed at the San SebastiÃÆ'¡n International Film Festival. That month, it was also screened at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.
In his own country, he made his debut at the Transilvania International Film Festival in June 2007, where he drew a long line. With only 50 theaters in Romania, and the lowest level of theater presence in the EU, the crew in the caravan toured 15 cities without a cinema for 30 days for screening that year. In Transylvania, Mungiu is glad to see that Romanian audiences can understand dark comedy. Filmmaker Sorin Avram documenting the caravan tour through Foc? Ani, Petro? Ani, C? L? Ra? I and other communities, and interviewed some 17,584 people, who described it as shocking and disturbing.
Although the film won the French National Education System Film Award at Cannes, protests by the anti-abortion movement led French Education Minister Xavier Darcos to consider banning him from French high school. This has raised concerns among French film industry workers about censorship. As a result, the proposed ban was dropped in July 2007, and educational DVDs using the film were available for ages 15 and over. Television stations and airlines also want to censor the fetus that was shot.
In June 2008, the film was released on DVD in Region 1 by Genius Products in the US and by Mongrel Media in Canada, featuring interviews with filmmakers and documentary Sorin Avram 1 Month with 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days . In Region 2, the Artificial Eye publishes DVD 2008 with Avram interviews and documentaries.
Reception
box office
In 2007 in Romania, there were 89,000 receipts for 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days , making it the seventh most-attended movie of the country that year, and the most-attended Romanian movie. On November 11, 2007, he had over 300,000 admissions in France. As of September 8, 2008, IFC Films reported strong financial performance for 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days in the US, with gross $ 1.2 million.
The film finished in May 2008. It generated $ 1,198,208 in North America and $ 8,642,130 in other territories, for a total worldwide of $ 9,840,338.
Critical reception
The film received an enthusiastic response from critics, earned 96% approval ratings and an average of 8.4/10 on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 139 reviews, while also ranking 97% on Metacritic based on 37 reviews. Many critics also put it in their top 10 films in 2007 or 2008. Roger Ebert gave it four stars, commenting on the ignorance of G'bi characters? And contrasted it with the title character of the year Juno magazine said that the film was "very perfect and brilliant... amazing achievement". He added that the film shares a number of characteristics with other productions from the New Romanian Cinema, namely: "long take, controlled camera and amazing ears for natural dialogue". For The New York Times , Manohla Dargis fights for direction, cinematography, and long retrieval.
Peter Bradshaw tells the sharpness of Otilia and naivetÃÆ'Â © g? Bi? A, but thinks this is how their crisis can affect them, and praises the film as "a masterpiece of intimate despair". In Empire, Damon Wise gave it five stars, positively reviewing the cinematography, color schemes, and illustrations of the black market terror created when something was forbidden. The Independent ' Jonathan Romney named it a "masterpiece", acknowledging the description of "Romanian abortion drama" would be bad for some audiences but defend it as "monstrous". Writing for Le Monde, Thomas Sotinel called the film very good and quoted Marinca for an intense show. Jean-Baptiste Morain from Les Inrockuptibles told the powerful emotions of the film, and praised Mungiu by managing to do things a bit.
Some sources see the film as an indication of a wider revival in Romanian cinema in the 2000s, especially given other successful Romanian films. These include Cristi Puiu the Death of Mr. Lazarescu , who won an uncertain Prix at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival; Corneliu Porumboiu 12:08 Eastern Bucharest , which won the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival 2006; and Cristian Nemescu California Dreamin ', who won an undisputed Prix at the Cannes Film Festival 2007.
In 2009, The Guardian ranked seventh in the list of "Best films of the noughties", which surveyed the past decade. The New York Times critic of A.O. Scott also placed the seventh movie in his list of best decades. In 2015, Benjamin Lee identified him as his favorite movie to win the Palme d'Or, praising it for the success of a modern thriller. Writing in his Film Guide 2015 , Leonard Maltin gave him three and a half stars, calling him "strong" with a "real tone". In a worldwide poll of 2016 critics conducted by the BBC, it was ranked 15th in the 100th Biggest Film of the 21st Century.
Debate on abortion
In its international release, the film became partially viewed through the lens of an abortion debate, with Emma Wilson writing in Quarterly Film that IMDb user reviews highlights this and compared it with Juno . Wilson observes 4 Months, 3 Sundays and 2 Days showing aborted fetuses, in proportion to the use of the US pro-life movement of the image, but argues that the film is closer to pro-choice ideology in its focus on hazards law for women. Furthermore Wilson argues that the true point is the loyalty of the two characters. Mungiu says that fetal shooting is not related to the pro-life movement, because the Romans are not used to this description and the abortion debate no longer stands out there. Anti-abortion protests comparable to those in the US or Ireland did not occur in Romania until 2005, when the Orthodox Church commented on the issue. Mungiu also refused to state his position on abortion, and said he was trying to keep the film and his personal position apart. Scholars Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy and Oana Popescu-Sandu argue that the film is only about communism, and minimalists allow foreign audiences to see what they want, including statements about the abortion debate.
In the Canadian feminist magazine Herizons, Maureen Medved's reviewer assesses 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days to estimate a horror film in describing the offense that women suffer when an abortion is illegal. In anticipation of the 2008 US presidential election, Critics of Mary and Richard Corliss also quoted the film to prevent the election of candidates opposed to Roe v. Wade , said the film revealed the potential negative consequences.
In the Australian Feminist Law Journal Fiona Jenkins interprets the story as an ambiguous moral argument that a safe abortion service should be allowed, but Otilia tells G? Bi? A they will never talk about the problem reflects her. "Trauma not only from what he has experienced but what he has done". Peter T. Chattaway, writing for Christianity Today, argues that "Abortion itself is handled in a visible way to support both sides of the abortion debate", given the abuse of women, but also the description of the "bloody procedure". The authors Waltraud Maierhofer also interpreted it as "not only for or against abortion". Maierhofer commented that a woman would consider many things in making choices, including health, finances and what the prospective child would face. In a discussion with Adi, Otilia suggests she will not be ready to enter marriage and raise a family. The reasons are never said; it can be assumed he made his own decisions, though Maierhofer wrote when he appeared "irresponsible".
Accolades
At the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, Cristian Mungiu became the first Romanian film-maker to win the Palme d'Or , the highest award of the festival. Later, it became the first Romanian work to receive the European Film Award for Best Film. In his native country, was nominated for 15 Gopo Awards and won nine, including Best Movie.
While competing for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is not collapsed, creating controversy among online film critics and fans, having won Palme d "Or < The controversy caused an Academy member to promise a nominating reform, although the category often sparked criticism, and later said that the subsequent negligence and uproar brought a big picture of publicity, and that the experience taught him that the critics and festival jurors had different tastes Academy.
Legacy
After the Academy Award controversy, the Academy reformed its methodology to select Best Foreign Film nominees, allowing a committee of about 20 members to name three favorite candidates, balancing a short list compiled by a second committee of hundreds of voters. Steven Zeitchik of The Los Angeles Times said that the 2011 nominees reflect change, featuring unusual and challenging issues such as youth violence ( In a Better World ), incest by rape ( Incendies ) and in particular the torture ( Dogtooth ). In 2013, The Wrap named Mungiu "The Man Who Changed Oscar's Rules".
Mungiu reportedly planned 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days to be first in a series of freelance movies titled "Tales from a Golden Age". Mungiu explains that "Romanian golden age" is a term used nationally for the last nine years of the last power of Ceau? Escu, though he says people then suffer from "flaws and difficulties". He intends to make six short films under the banner of "Tales from the Golden Age", and then allow younger directors to take over the series. In 2009, he released a movie titled Tales of the Golden Era , after 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days in describing the Ceau era? Escu and starring Vlad Ivanov. The next film, Beyond the Hills (2012), also depicts Romanian extremism, and Mungiu is inspired to make a cinematic adaptation after seeing the stage version in New York while promoting 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days .
Note
See also
- List of Romanian items for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
- Delivery list to the 80th Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
References
Bibliography
External links
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days at IMDb
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days at Rotten Tomatoes
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days at Metacritic
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days at Box Office Mojo
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days at AllMovie
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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