Romanian film won Cannes with its story of an illegal abortion, reports Helen Barlow
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When Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days last year took the top Cannes prize, the Palme d'Or, few were surprised.
The film had screened to high praise, and while the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men - which later won the best
picture Oscar - was also popular, the American brothers had won twice before.
The Romanian film recently won the best film prize at the European film awards, perhaps vindicating the Cannes jury's decision.
Filmed in long takes to increase the sense of realism and urgency, 4 Months lets you into the hotel room of Gabita, a young university student having an abortion in 1987 during the final years of communism.
"This film is not about the situation people had to overcome under communism," says director Mungiu, 39, "it is about abortion in general.
"This is why it was important for me to show it, because people have this tendency of avoiding what they don't like to think about. But once you've seen it, you're struck by the fact that it's human; it's not just a number of cells.
"I hope it makes people decide they should be very aware of the consequences of their actions."
In communist countries abortions were generally legal, yet in 1966 Nicolae Ceausescu banned them in Romania.
"He wanted to have a very big generation of people that would fulfil the expectations of the communist perfect world," explains Mungiu, "but the effect was that up till 1970 there were four huge generations of people and I was part of one of these. In the beginning the women were not prepared at all. But after 1970 they tried to fight against the regime and illegal abortions became popular.
"While the wealthier people could find doctors to perform them, the poor had to settle with people like Bebe.
"The effect was that because of the pressure of the regime, families became so concerned with not being caught that they didn't give one minute's thought to the moral issue.
"One of the first freedoms in Romania in the early 90s after the fall of communism was to make abortions legal.
"People considered this the ultimate freedom and in the first two years we had nearly one million abortions in a country of only 20 million people. We needed 10 years for this abortion wave to drop."
Gabita's friend Otilia is played by London-based Romanian actress Anamaria Marinca, who previously impressed in the British-Canadian television drama Sex Traffic.
Marinca's character is the moral compass of the film, says Mungiu.
"Gabita is self-centred and hides behind the mask of a victim, but she's not a victim - she knows how to get out of this situation.
"Otilia is the one who finally has a conscience ... It's clear she's the one who will think about it more."
Mungiu's use of long takes meant that he required experienced actors who could deal with the continuous filming.
"Sometimes it would take an entire day to get it right, and other times we'd have to stop because they'd lose their concentration. We had little time to rehearse.
"For the major scene I took the actors and rented a hotel room and adjusted the dialogue as we rehearsed."
Mungiu did not use sets. He was determined the locations should be real, and he worked with a skeletal crew.
"To be in actual environments helped the actors to feel the reality of the events.
"[And] I like to ... exploit the enclosed interior. Life goes on and nobody really cares what happens outside."
Mungiu had made only one previous feature, Occident, before 4 Months, but he had written several satirical sketches based on urban myths about the communist era. Satirical humour is a hallmark of the burgeoning Romanian cinema, yet as Mungiu is nearing 40, he felt it was time to make a film with more serious intent.
Still, he notes, "It was never my intention to chronicle the period."
Even so, elements of the communist era pervade the film. Bebe is not a doctor; he is just someone who exploits the system. "He's a blend of horribleness and simplicity, a particular kind of wickedness that existed in those times."
LOWDOWNWhat: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Cannes-winning Romanian movie
When & where: Screening now at Rialto cinemas
