4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

What it's about:

In 1980s communist Romania, university student Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) endures a harrowing day as she attempts to arrange an illegal abortion for her friend and dorm roommate Gabita (Laura Vasiliu). The pair meet with a black market doctor Mr Bebe (Vlad Ivanov) who has his own agenda. Relationships are tested to the brink, and Otilia learns the hard way that she is alone in the world.


What we thought of it:

There are so many ways to read 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days (Palm d'Or winner of 2007) and so many varying conclusions to be drawn from this stiflingly realistic film. The inescapable question you find yourself trying to answer as the story progresses is: Is this movie pro-choice or anti-abortion? Whichever, it is unlikely going to sway you from your personal viewpoint on the matter, a credit to writer-director Cristian Mungiu.

His unflinching viewpoint captures the grey wintry landscape, economic hardship and bureaucratic stranglehold of Nicolae Ceausescu's totalitarian rule, and in the process lays bare a society that is without reason, compassion or happiness. What little joy Otilia has in her life comes at a price too. She can't think of a future with her boyfriend because the state could sanction either of them to work in the country when they've completed their studies. And what if she finds herself in Gabita's situation one day – pregnant and desperate – who will take care of her?

Mungiu tells the story through long, static shots, sometimes handheld, which linger on every hopeless expression, every painful realisation. It makes for uncomfortable viewing, but this only adds to the cumulative power of 4 Months. But this is only because it's so visceral, so honest, so utterly devastating. The movie feels as if it was shot in real time and comes as close to a documentary as a fictional feature is likely going to get.

Primary in helping Mungiu achieving this hellish vision are his actresses. Anamaria Marinca brilliantly portrays Otilia's striking courage and fortitude in the face of an impossible situation. If 4 Months is hard to watch, she makes it impossible for you to tear your eyes away. Laura Vasiliu plays the scared and cowardly Gabita with a nagging vulnerability that only adds to the soul-crushing inevitability of her fate, and that of her unborn child.

The natural, all-too realistic dialogue (which does not lose an ounce of its essence in the English subtitles) is as engrossing and marks Mungiu as a masterful writer as well.

You may walk out of the cinema feeling like your worldview has been turned on its head, in itself a testament to the power of this phenomenal, compelling, incredibly vital movie. If challenging, provocative art movies are your bag, then 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days is the cinematic experience you've been waiting for.