4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile

Plot synopsis:
The film follows the story of Otilia Mihartescu (Anamaria Marinca) and Gabriela "Găbița" Dragut (Laura Vasiliu), two university friends in an unnamed Romanian town. The film is set in 1987, one of the last years of the Ceaușescu government. When Găbița becomes pregnant, the two girls arrange a meeting with Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov) in a hotel, where he is to perform an illegal abortion (Communist Romania had a natalist policy against abortion).
At the college dorm Găbița and Otilia review the items they need for the day, and as Găbița nervously sits and waits in the room, Otilia barters and buys soap, cigarettes, etc. from school friends. Afterwards, Otilia takes a bus to visit her boyfriend Adi, from whom she borrows money. Adi asks Otilia to visit his family that night, as it is his mother's birthday, to which Otilia initially declines, but she relents after Adi becomes upset.
Otilia heads to a hotel where Găbița has booked a room, only to be informed by an unfriendly receptionist that there is no reservation under Găbița's last name. Otilia goes to another hotel, and after much begging and haggling is able to book a room at an expensive rate. Afterwards Otilia goes to a rendezvous point to meet with Mr. Bebe, although he had asked Găbița that she meets him and no one else. Mr. Bebe grows angry upon hearing that Găbița is not at the planned hotel.
Mr. Bebe discovers that Găbița's claim that her pregnancy was in its third month is a lie; in fact, it has been at least four months. The two women were certain that they would pay no more than 3000 lei for the abortion. However, it slowly becomes clear to the women that he expects both women to have sex with him. Otilia reluctantly has sex with Mr. Bebe so that he will not walk out on them, as does Găbița. Mr. Bebe then performs the abortion by injecting a probe and an unnamed fluid into Găbița's uterus, and leaves Otilia instructions on how to dispose of the fetus when it comes out. Otilia is exasperated by Găbița's lies, yet continues to help and care for her.
Otilia leaves Găbița at the hotel to go to Adi's mother's birthday. She is still disturbed but stays and has dinner with Adi's mother's friends, who are mostly doctors. They all talk about trivial things while Otilia and Adi remain silent. The phone rings in the background, but no one answers it. One of the guests then starts talking about lost values and respect to elders when Otilia accepts a cigarette offered to her in front of Adi's parents, which prompts Adi to bring the champagne in order to get the party over with. Adi and Otilia then go to his room where Otilia tells him about Găbița's abortion, and they start talking about what would happen if it was Otilia who was pregnant since Adi seems to be against abortion. After fighting with Adi, Otilia calls Găbița from Adi's house. Găbița does not answer, so Otilia decides to return to the hotel.
When Otilia enters the room Găbița is lying on the bed, and she tells Otilia that the fetus has come out and is in the bathroom. Otilia then wraps the fetus with some towels and puts everything in a bag, while Găbița asks her to bury the fetus. Otilia then goes outside and walks around for a while, finally climbing to the top of a random building, as Mr. Bebe had suggested, and dropping the bag in a trash chute.
Otilia then goes back to the hotel and finds Găbița sitting at the restaurant. She sits and tells Găbița that they are never going to talk about the episode ever again. Otilia stares blankly at Găbița before looking directly at the camera, just before the film cuts to black.

Tags: bleak

Review:
If you invest your time and emotions in this one, you will not be disappointed.The acting, camera work, cinematography are of the highest quality, especially given the budgetary restrictions and scarcity of available resources.This movie is yet more ample proof that one does not necessarily need a 200 million dollar budget to make a great film.
All in all a great "little" movie about a forgotten slice of history, a little known place and, a time of horrifying brutality and oppression i.e. the so-called Golden Age (epoca de aur), Romania and Nicolae Ceausescu.
Women will resonate with the story of the imposed tragedy at a personal and national level resulted from the anti-abortion policies in Communist Romania, and one cannot say it's only a pro-choice movie, it's a real indictment.
If you are Romanian and lived these times you may feel you returned in time and the end of the movie may seem the awakening from a recurring nightmare.And if you are a fan of good cinema you will admire the virtuosity of a director who learned perfectly the lessons of Jim Jarmusch and DOGMA and transfered them in the East European space.
Magnificent to follow as its character has its own life, its like a concatenation of first plans one near the other.In another memorable scene Otilia runs in the night to get rid of the aborted child.
It is just a daily life of a few Romanians during the period and you can feel it through this movie.For all other foreign film fan, this is an absolute must see for this year..
The movie is a drama of a human being that is oppressed by the communist regime in Romania, one of the most criminal regimes of this century.In the last years of the Romanian communism, the dictator's wife "Elena Ceausescu" made it clear for everyone that abortion is no longer permitted and that had a lot of implications later on.
4 Months 3 Weeks & 2 Days is supposedly the beginning of a series of films Mungiu is hoping to make called The Golden Age, each about life in Communist Romania.
As it is, 4 Months 3 Weeks & 2 Days moved me and challenged me, made me feel and made me think, demonstrated the personal and political challenges of a heartbreaking choice that, in many ways, is no choice at all-- and that's a rare enough achievement, and one worthy of seeking out.This movie is a work of art.
Winner of last years Palme d'Or this Romanian film set in the eighties and is a cross between Richard Linklater's 2001 film 'Tape', in that the majority of the action takes place in one room between three central characters and Mike Leigh's 2004 film 'Vera Drake' in that its central theme is illegal abortion.
The setting is grim and the bleached out film stock adds to the jittery camera work and gives an uneasy feeling throughout, instantly you are transported to a time where people barter with tic tacs, cigarettes and powdered milk and the promise of sugar is a dream to many and a reality to only a few.
Although not an easy watch and considering the subject matter not something you can say you 'enjoyed' it is none the less a brilliant piece of film-making, subtle and emotive with very real character studies.
Another powerful film from Romania, FOUR MONTHS, THREE WEEKS, TWO DAYS, from Cristian Mungiu with tremendous performances from Ana Maria Marinca as Otilia and the lovely Laura Vasiliu, playing 'Gabita', in a story of abortion and the effect on family and friendship.
No wonder this jewel of a film won Cannes' Palme D'Or 2007.The film belongs to Ana Maria Marinca as her character Otilia commands the screen in scenes which drive the story forward and enforce the horror of not only abortion, but much more.
I cannot recall seeing any other Romanian film, but if this is what we have to look forward to from writer/director Cristian Mungiu, then we will have some great pieces of art coming from that country.I will not pretend to have any idea of what a woman (Laura Vasiliu) goes through in having an abortion, but I have a better idea after watching this film about a woman going through a "back alley" procedure.It is not just about abortion.
I'm sure it depicts perfectly the era when Romania was under Ceausescu's communist regime, but having seen so many foreign films focusing on social issues I didn't think there was anything special that stood out here, but I'm probably wrong because everyone else seemed to have loved this film.The film takes place during the final years of Ceausescu's communist regime in Rumania and it centers on a college student named Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) as she begins to make plans in order to help her roommate, Gabita (Laura Vasliu), have an abortion.
Featuring superb performances from Anamaria Marinca and Laura Vasiliu and spotless perfectly-shot long takes, more than abortion, this film also examines the friendship between the roommates as lies and cover-ups are discovered to better suit the purposes of one, and the romantic relationship told on the side when morality questions are raised.
This is Romanian actress Anamaria Marinca, who I saw in another fabulous European realistic portrayal of a difficult slice of life, the multi-culti German Bosnian "Storm." In "Four Months" she plays a Romanian, Otilia, a friend of a young woman who has arranged for an abortion, which is illegal at the time there.
Then it segues into a story of her attempts to help out her friend procure an illegal abortion in a hotel room under some harsh circumstances (i.e. the girl is timid and uneasy in her ignorance, the man performing it is cold and cruel and a professional pig, the general fear and loathing of the situation).
But Mingiu's style is something that took me totally off my guard, and I wasn't sure for the better.The film contends with the likes of Woyzek of having a ridiculous among of long-takes (and long as in ten-minute length, the variety that would've been impossible decades ago), with these characters in a bind of usually holding back emotions under these complex set of circumstances, where the fear of getting caught goes hand in hand with the problems of guilt in a society that shouldn't have that instilled in people in the first place.
It's a lot like if Bresson shot a home movie set in Romania in Communist era times of dread, where a character like the lead Otilia (Anamaria Minca) is so restrained we wonder if she'll suddenly burst at the seams at any moment.
As you probably already know, this movie tells a story of a girl who tries to have an abortion in 1987 communist Romania.
But this movie isn't necessary about abortion or communist Romania, and it will mean something to you no matter how alien the place, the characters or their problems are to you.
Whenever I read it in a review I feel as if Kubrick is the only other director's name the critic knows so he throws it in a few times with a copy-paste on the computer.With that being established I think to compare one specific element of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days to some of Stanley Kubrick's movies is warranted and worthwhile.
Much hyped winner of Cannes, and center of a firestorm concerning the wonky way the Oscars pick their foreign language nominees, this film was carrying a great deal of baggage with it when I sat down to watch it on IFC in Theaters on demand service on cable.The story of the film is simple, two young women, one of whom is pregnant, go to a hotel to get an abortion.Its 1980's Romania and abortion is simply not done.
The movie focuses on Bucharest college student Otilia Mihartescu's (Anamaria Marinca) plan to help her friend Gabita Dragut (Laura Vasiliu) have an abortion during the Nicolae Ceaucescu era.The movie has the feeling of a play, mostly set in one room with single shots running several minutes.
The entire film looks like it's been shot with a hand-held camera, but this won't make you sick, since most of the scenes involve casual dialog in homes and hotel rooms.
This film is SIMPLE and STRAIGHT; we can see, hear and even feel the style in from starting till the end.Director Cristian Mungiu is narrating an ordinary but real story which happens from time to time in every corner of this world.
Not until the half-hour mark of "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" (2007, Romania), Cristian Mungiu's Palme d'Or-winning sophomore full-length film, do the viewers get to know what it is that agitates and makes the two central young female characters go through all the motions at the film's initial minutes (which actually comprise a day's start).
And negotiating for an abortion during the waning days of Ceaucescu's Communist rule (the year is 1987), which makes it illegal and a criminal act and is thus punishable with imprisonment.The girl suffering from an unwanted pregnancy here is Gabita and the one helping her to get a "doctor" who will perform the forbidden act is her friend Otilia, both of whom are university students.
For even this encounter, where everything is supposed to proceed smoothly already, unexpectedly takes a not-that-slight detour.Lies, deceit, complications and compromise arise from this heady three-way encounter, the irreversible outcome of which is for Otilia and Gabita to lamentably prostitute themselves for the duplicitous Mr. Bebe before he can perform the sought-after "operation".On the surface, "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" may just be put alongside many other abortion films that we know (like Claude Chabrol's "Story of Women" and Mike Leigh's "Vera Drake"), which are surefire shot for controversy given the divisive and tacky nature of the subject.
The story of two young women dealing with an unwanted pregnancy during the communist reign of Romania in 1987 when abortion was illegal is a slow-paced film that really did not say all that much to me.The performances are OK, the story doesn't really go anywhere and the film itself does not take any real political stance on the ever-touchy topic of abortion except to show the dangers of making a woman's choice illegal.Ultimately, the film left me feeling terribly underwhelmed, not having quite caught the point that the film was trying to make.
This is a very thick and heavy movie that makes you feel the frustration of the characters on a very intimate level.Filled with details and nuances behind every frame,where nothing is left hanging,or put there by mistake.This movie is not about abortion.In a weird way I consider this to be the background story, and the details are the ones that put the pieces of the central theme: A day in communist Romania.One of the greatest scenes by my opinion is the dinner table piece, where lot takes place and apparently nothing at all.Only a Romanian could fully understand the subtleties of the small dinner talk and the implications that every phrase had,making you feel quite uncomfortable and forcing you to reflect about the consequences that the communist regime had on the so called middle class citizens that were sentiently indoctrinated with socialistic beliefs and at the same time miserable about the ways things were back then.A very vicious circle.The camera work is great with a real cold feel to it,the actors do their work in a very natural and expressive manor,and the settings,well, considering that not much has changed in Romania in last decades,totally authentic.I consider this to be by far the greatest movie in the last two decades of so called "independent" Romanian Cinematography.It certainly deserves it's ten stars..
Surprisingly....Bad. This movie came to Romania as a big Hype because it was awarded with the french Palm D'or, so the french saw it even before romanians did...I can understand a low budget independent picture, but this one is horrible..The plot revolves around the avortion problem in the communist era (when it was declared illegal) and the so called drama of two young female students which must deal with a unwanted pregnancy...While the idea is mediocre as best, the finished product is terribly bad, boring and makes you feel no sympathy for the characters.
The backgrounds are typically for any romanian young director trying to make a name for himself in the occident, showing only the dirty aspects of life in Romania : garbage, homeless people, stray dogs and human misery in it's full glory, like this country or the communism had absolutely nothing good in it.
I must warn you that it is probably not the best choice if you don't like slow-paced films which have not a lot of dialogue at times, and where "nothing" seems to be going on for some sequences -although I assure you that there's always something happening, and if you give this movie a chance and you tune in with the emotions it strongly displays, it will be impossible to stop watching.The film is set in 1987's Romania, in the final years of Ceausescu's dictator regime.
The whole movie is the story of how both friends go about getting Gabita such a procedure, in a time where abortion was illegal and severely punished in Romania.The real and only protagonist is the friend, Otilia, who goes to great extremes in order to help Gabita.
We will accompany Otilia in her journey, and we will also learn about the communist society of the 80s Romania, the heavy bureaucracy and rigidness of everyday life, the class prejudices, the different lifestyles, etc.There are some sequences which might come across as difficult to watch, and this regards its contents (the movie didn't seem offensive to me, but the director doesn't limit himself in showing what he regards necessary for the viewer to see, and this might offend some sensitivities), but also the style -it's made almost like a dogma-style movie, with no music soundtrack, and some very long sequences.
If the film were to be diserecited, it would no doubt alienate foreign audiences; many of the friends I've viewed the movie with simply couldn't comprehend; however, it is little known to the world how life behind the "iron curtain" was all about.
Then Otilia leaves her Bucharest university campus and begins her harrowing journey.Set in the Communist Romania of 1987, "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days", is a story about oppression and about how living in a state of fear can create a sterling bond between the oppressed.
that is what the communism felt like for the Romanians.In that desert of choices and mistrust arose a friendship between two girls: Otilia, Gabita.I think the whole idea of the film is to show the humain relations in a prohibited environment: the small talk (from the birthday party), the argues, the negotiations, the silence from the end.
Romanian director Cristian Mungiu won the Cannes Film Festival's top prize Sunday with "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," a harrowing portrait of an illegal abortion in Communist-era Romania.The low-budget, naturalistic film about a student who goes through horrors to ensure that her friend can have a secret abortion beat out 21 other movies in competition for the Riviera festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or.The Director accepts the Palme d'Or from American actress Jane Fonda for his film "4 Luni, 3 Saptamini Si 2 Zile" ("4 Months, 3 weeks and 2 days"), during the awards ceremony at the 60th International film festival in Cannes, southern France, on Sunday, May 27, 2007.
It's a new European art-house film which probably won't shock the ones familiar with the genre with its documentary-like narrative; but it does offer something to think about - and in addition to its captive storyline it does have a high cinematic value in both style and content.The year is 1987 and two female students are living in a shared apartment.
The scene at the dining table where the educated upper class are celebrating and seeking their own advantage.4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days grew out to be a mature film about a world where pregnancy becomes something that must be avoided like cancer, about a society where the ones in charge are regardless of the common people.
4 MONTHS 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS ('4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile') is a powerful film that asks us to witness several horrors - Ceausescu's communist Romania in 1987, illegal abortion, and the extremes/abuses of friendship.
Well, if that effect works, don't doubt about watching "4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days", a very good movie about a very heavy issue during a very hard time.
In a film with practically no music and with reality presented as it is, it's impossible to experiment more tension, one of Mingiu's major and most effective achievements here.There are a lot of things I would like to tell you about "4 months, 3 weeks and two days", to convince you of watching it; but I'll just give you some recommendations.
You don't know how it's been in the those years in the former communist countries, but this film is very realistic, This is what was happening in those days.I was much more taken with this story than any "action movies" that i've seen in the last half year, as it was a slice from real life.There was the "pro life" approach to social science, in witch birth control was made illegal, and doctors that risked abortions of unwanted pregnancies risked up to 10 years of hard prison.So now we live in a so much more liberal environment, where the state doesn't control the number of the children that every citizen can have, but the church does.
The other sees a Communist era set Romanian girl from about twenty years ago claw and scrape her way through life at university as she aids and helps out her friends here and there as the film builds to a pretty harrowing finale.