# Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World

Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (Romanian: Nu aștepta prea mult de la sfârșitul lumii) is a 2023 satirical absurdist dark comedy film written and directed by Radu Jude. It stars Ilinca Manolache with supporting performances by Nina Hoss and Uwe Boll. It is a co-production among Romania, Croatia, France and Luxembourg.
The film premiered at the main competition of the 2023 Locarno Film Festival, where it received widespread critical acclaim, and the Special Jury Prize. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World was later screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and at the 2023 New York Film Festival. It was selected as Romanian entry in the Best International Feature Film category for the 96th Academy Awards on 8 September 2023.

## Premise

The film has been described as a "(t)ale of Cinema and Economics in Two Parts: overworked and underpaid, Angela drives around the city of Bucharest to film the casting for a 'safety at work video' commissioned by a multinational company." This process mostly consists of interviewing injured workers in order to whitewash the company's involvement in their injuries, which one interviewee suddenly reveals. The frustrations of this job drive Angela to start broadcasting on Tiktok as an Andrew Tate-esque obnoxious and provocative male influencer, using a video filter to hide her identity. The film contains footage (sometimes put into slow motion or still frame) of a 1981 film about a female taxi driver in Bucharest (Angela merge mai departe, by Lucian Bratu). Modern day Angela visits many of the locations used in the 1981 film, and the shooting and content of her own videos are also included. While driving Doris Goethe from the airport, Angela shares that as a production assistant driving a lot and working extra hours, she's afraid to drive a specific road on the way to the city of Buzău where, "there are more crosses for the people who died in accidents than kilometres." Referring to E85 (National Road 2), the film includes a montage of crosses on the side of the road. The second, much shorter section of the film consists of the shooting of the safety promotion campaign video in front of the entrance to the chosen employee's factory.

## Cast

* Ilinca Manolache as Angela
* Nina Hoss as Doris Goethe
* Katia Pascariu
* Sofia Nicolaescu
* Uwe Boll as himself
* László Miske as Gyuri
* Ovidiu Pîrsan
* Dorina Lazar as Angela
* Alex M. Dascalu as Dan Trofăilă

## Production

The title comes from an aphorism by Stanislaw Jerzy Lec. The film is Jude's longest fiction film so far.

## Release

Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World premiered at the 2023 Locarno Film Festival on 4 August 2023, where it received the Special Jury Prize. It was also invited at the 28th Busan International Film Festival in 'Icon' section and was screened on 5 October 2023.
Mubi had acquired all rights of the film for the US, as well as streaming rights in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, India, Turkey and Latin America. The film was released on Mubi on 4 May 2024.
The film was released theatrically in Romania on 27 October 2023.

## Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 74 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "As unique and breathlessly expansive as its title, Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World adds to the evidence supporting Radu Jude's status as a uniquely gifted and provocative filmmaker." On the Metacritic website the movie has a score of 95 out of 100 indicating "universal acclaim" making it the highest reviewed movie of 2023.
In his review for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw described Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World as follows: "Freewheeling essay-movie-slash-black-comedy collage takes swipes from all angles at modern life.". Matthew Joseph Jenner, writing for the International Cinephile Society, stated that the film is "a truly ambitious, beautifully complex, and deeply compelling masterpiece of purely playful postmodernism, which has never been more urgently required than it is at the present moment". The film also received very positive reviews in Indie Wire, Le Monde, D Movies, Screen Daily and Deadline, among others.
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World was ranked seventh on Cahiers du Cinéma's top 10 films of 2023 list. The filmmakers Joanna Arnow and Todd Field both included ranked the film as one of their favorites of 2024.

## Logline

* An overworked and underpaid production assistant must drive around the city of Bucharest to film the casting for a workplace safety video commissioned by a multinational company. When one of her interviewees makes a statement that ignites a scandal she is forced to re-invent the whole story.

## Quotations Included

* Stanisław Jerzy Lec
* Alexander Kluge
* Karl Valentin
* Charles Baudelaire
* Nicolae Steinhardt
* Rolf Bossert
* Nicolae Bornemisa
* Slavoj Žižek
* Eva Wiseman
* Errol Morris
* Thomas Bernhard
* Don DeLillo
* Kobayashi Issa
* Yosa Buson
* Matsuo Bashō

## Songs Featured

* Manele
* Robotu, Sex Pula Pistol
* Motoric, Cosmin TRG
* Fredy Alcool, Sex Pula Pistol
* Panoramic, Cosmin TRG
* Ia D-Aici Ca N-Ai Servici, Sandu Ciorba
* Periplu Euxin, Tam Nisam
* Dă-mi bă banii (feat. Lena), Matteo Islandezu
* Exercitiu, Valeriu Sterian
* DĂ-I ȚIGANCA, GHEBOASĂ
* Zob, Basm Epic
* Viva Mamaia, Loredana feat. Alex Velea, Cabron & Mazare
* Amintire cu haiduci, Valeriu Sterian
* Cutu Cutu, Tom Boxer
* Tu Locura, Sait Esmeray x Otilia
* Bagabont Stilat, Amuly
* Fata De La Radio, DI Goe
* Sefu, Macamache
* O Mână, Methadon 3000 (Vexxatu Vexx & DJ Sleek)
* Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 1 in F major, K. 37
* Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Trio No.1 G major - III. Allegretto

## Film and Video References

* Employees Leaving the Lumière Factory, Louis Lumière
* Subterranean Homesick Blues, Bob Dylan (music video)
* Angela merge mai departe (Angela Goes on), 1981