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Winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes is one of the highest honors a film can receive outside of an Academy Award. The winners of the award are amongst some of the most acclaimed films of all time. La Dolce Vita, Pulp Fiction, Apocalypse Now and Taxi Driver have all laid claim to the award. One of 2007’s most acclaimed films that few people saw also won this award: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.
In 1987 and in Romania, Communism was still the rule of the day. Two college roommates are in need of an abortion and in Communist-controlled Romania, the only way to do so is on the black market. Much like anything else, from name brand cigarettes to American goods, Communist Romania is a hard place to get anything of value it seems. The film follows 24 hours in the life of these two women as they procure an abortion for one of them. With some deft acting and a tighter story, there’s a reason why this was one of last year’s most honored foreign films.
It’s a haunting film that stands out for how different it is from traditional cinema. Cristian Mungiu has taken out any music in the film, so there’s no score throughout 4 Months; he also relies on minimal editing. There are a lot of long shots and uninterrupted takes where Mungiu doesn’t make a single cut. There’s plenty of camera movement to be found, but the film stands out because of the distinct lack of work in the editing room in terms of quick cuts, etc. This is a film that Mungiu compiled from singular takes as opposed to mixing and matching parts of scenes in the cutting room. It’s jarring when a cut happens because there’s so few of them; Mungiu goes 4-5 minutes between cuts and instead relies on camera movements to follow his actors. It’s interesting to watch if only because of that.
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days isn’t a film for the weak of heart, either. It doesn’t have a warm, happy ending (and no film about it would, unless it’s funded by Planned Parenthood) and the subject matter and film are so insanely depressing that it makes repeat viewings of the film a bit difficult. It’s a great story and emotionally gripping, it’s just that the film’s last 20 minutes are mortifying for any sane person.
Presented in a Dolby Digital surround with a widescreen presentation, the film looks and sounds wonderfully. Without a score or music to take away from the dialogue, everything comes through crystal clear and sound effects off camera (vitally important for a film that doesn’t cut all over the scene to get a full picture) come through wonderfully. This isn’t a visual film, as most of the scenes are indoors, but what is needed comes through wonderfully.
1 Month with 4 Months, 3 weeks and 2 days is a documentary about the film. With only 50 movie theatres in the country for over 20 million inhabitants, the film-makers opted to caravan across the country and screen the film to those areas that weren’t close to a regular theatre. Featuring interviews with Romanian residents who saw the film, it’s interesting to hear their cinematic experiences in terms of their length of time away from theatres. Many recall not having seen a film in a movie theatre for over a decade.
An Interview with Cristian Munjiu , as well as one with Oleg Mutu, gives you interviews with the director and cinematographer respectively. These are a bit different than interviews with American directors for the most part in similar DVD features as Munjiu and Mutu go into significant detail about what they wanted to accomplish. Munjiu in particular speaks significantly in depth about what he wants to do with the film and goes into great detail about how he developed the film’s unique style. His main thought was that his influence as the film-maker tells much more of a story than the story itself could, therefore it was up to him to relay the emotional narrative by doing as little work as possible. This included eliminating lots of cuts and editing, relying more on long takes and his actors to deliver what he wanted. He also goes through certain scenes as well, discussing how he set them up and how he wanted to develop them. Mutu’s is as just in depth as well, giving a different perspective as he discusses filming techniques.
One of 2007’s best foreign films has a solid DVD release. The extras are solid and entertaining, with a top notch transfer for the film to complement them.
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IFC Films presents 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. Directed by Cristian Mungiu. Starring Adi Carauleanu, Luminiţa Gheorghiu, Mădălina Ghiţescu, Vlad Ivanov, Anamaria Marinca, Alexandru Potocean, Laura Vasiliu. Written by Cristian Mungiu. Running time: 113 minutes. Rated R. Released on DVD: June 10, 2008. Available at Amazon.com
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