4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)

Anamaria Marinca in Christian Mungiu's "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days" (2007)--Winner of the 2007 Palmd'Or (Best Picture Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.)

Star Rating: ***½
From the first minute of this film alone, we know that something is terribly wrong. From the title of the film, (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days), as well as snippets of dialogue between the players, it is heavily implied that one of our main characters, a college student named Gabita (Laura Vasiliu), is pregnant. She and her roommate Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) are trying to arrange something with the utmost secrecy, supposedly an abortion. However the words “pregnancy” and “abortion” are not used till about 40 minutes into the film. The implications the film produces create a flawless web of suspense that captivates the audience’s attention. After that, the screenplay and the performances are what carry the film to its finish.

"4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days", is Romanian film, written and directed by Cristian Mungiu. It is set in an unspecified Romanian village in March, 1987, at a time when communist policies forbade abortions. Otilia and Gabita check into a hotel room, and hire Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov), who performs an abortion on Gabita. Bebe turns out to be a hard, unfair, and cold businessman with no conscious. He does oblige with the abortion—at the price of sleeping with the reluctant girls.

From start to finish, the film has an incredibly gloomy feel to it—from its depressing subject matter to its cold wintry landscapes, darkly lit rooms and its absence of a film score. These elements reminded me of the Coen Brothers’ "No Country for Old Men", another 2007 release that increased its suspense by expelling the use of music throughout the picture. Also like "No Country", "4 Months" unfolds at a very deliberate pace, ensuring that it conveys its grim contents perfectly.

The direction and acting for 4 Months are both very impressive. There are many heavily dialogued scenes, but no over the shoulder camera shots are used. The dialogue is all filmed in either a medium close up or profile shot on the speaker’s face, or in wide angle shots of the multiple characters in their conversations. The actors all give good performances, and make their situations quite believable, especially considering the incredibly long takes.

Most impressive was Anamaria Marinca, who plays Otilia. Otilia is more or less the one with the brains. She has to take the reigns in dealing with the business aspect of abortion because Gabita acts like a dishonest child, and you see how playing caretaker wears Otilia out emotionally.

By comparison, Laura Vasiliu gives a great performance as a foolish, dishonest, and suffering young woman. These are both hard roles to play, and they are essential to the plot. The troubling aspects of the story begin and end with Otilia and Gabita. If these roles hadn’t been played well, the whole film would have fallen apart.

"4 Months" rubs off as a statement about dishonesty, but also loyalty. Otilia sticks by Gabita, even though she becomes fed up with her dishonesty and carelessness. After such a distressing narrative, there comes the question “how does this end?” Without giving away any details, the ending doesn’t take the easy way out—it does the characters and the story more justice than any other ending would have.

This is a tough sit. The performances are virtually flawless, if the characters certainly aren’t. The gloom is so well done that it is almost painful to watch. "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days", creates its world and sucks us into that world for two hours, leaving us feeling somewhat depressed, but nonetheless impressed with its skill.