Fjord
Winning his second Palme d’Or after 2007’s chilling masterwork 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, Romanian writer-director Cristian Mungiu delivers one of the most urgent movies of the year. And he does so through a query both timeless and of today: Is there a world in which we can be free of biases when pursuing truth and justice, or are we always a little blindsided by our belief systems? The audience will certainly wonder and self-interrogate in following Mungiu’s atmospheric legal thriller about a devout religious couple with ambiguous values (superstars Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan, both brilliant and against type) and their five children, disrupted by Norway’s inflexible child protection laws. An incisive courtroom procedural and a searing family drama that refreshingly checks all forms of moral pandering at the door, Mungiu’s latest is as cool, imposing, and silently deep as the fjord that lends this gorgeous enigma its backdrop. —Tomris Laffly
Director/s
Cristian Mungiu
Cristian Mungiu was born in Iași, Romania in 1968. After studying literature and languages at Iași University, he worked as a teacher, photographer and journalist. He studied film at the Bucharest National Film University, worked during his studies as assistant director for several foreign directors. He made his debut with Occident (2002), followed by 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007), winning Cannes’ Palme d’Or. His other films include the collective project Tales from the Golden Age (2009); Beyond the Hills (2012), winner of the Best Screenplay award at Cannes; and R.M.N. (2002).