Film Reviews

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

• Rating:
• Director: Christian Mungiu
• Starring: Anamaria Marinca
• Details: Romania / 113mins (TBC).

Set in 1980s Romania, this harrowing tale sees two friends, Otilia (Marinca) and Gabita (Vasiliu), roommates at a local college, bond together in a time of need: the naive Gabita has fallen pregnant, a burden she wants to be relieved of, and wants Otilia to help her. Since abortion (and contraception) is illegal in communist Romania, Gabita and Otilia contact Bebe (Ivanov) to conduct the late-term procedure (check the title) that could land everyone in jail and possibly worse. On top of that, Otilia attempts to keep it secret from her annoying boyfriend Adi, who seems more concerned with Otilia's appearance at his mother's birthday party. Director Mungiu shoots his native Romania under communist rule as a claustrophobic country; everything seems to be bearing down on Otilia and Gabita as the pressure of the situation manifests itself in the locations: the small college dorm, the tight showers, the tiny hotel room and the overcrowded dinner table all contribute to hemming the characters in. Mungui shoots these locations with the minimum of light and the light he does use is generally cold and harsh. A world away from the recent pregnancy movies like Waitress and Knocked Up, this is a stark, downbeat and bleak drama that's not for the faint of heart. Pro-life or pro-choice? Mingiu isn't saying - he just wants to tell a story.

Review by Gavin Burke