Review of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) by Paul Z — 21 Oct 2008

The film tracks the story of Otilia and Gabita, two university friends in Bucharest, Romania in 1987, one of the last years of the regime. Gabita is pregnant, and the two girls make plans for an appointment with a coarse doctor played by Vlad Ivanov in a hotel, where he is to carry out an illegal abortion, as Communist Romania had a natalist policy against it.

The movie aims an unshakable stare at its subjects. There are no elaborate shots, no effects, no quick cuts, and Mungiu and his cinematographer, Oleg Mutu, hold on to a rule of one shot for each scene. That renders camera position and arrangement vital, and implies that each shot has been painstakingly organized. Even shots where the apparent focus of the action is just partially able to be seen, or not seen at all, operate an intention by being adamant on the perspective and the frame. Images are everything here. The film has no music, simply dialogue or extensive silence. Each scene being a single shot creates realism, like capsules of interaction.

Otilia becomes frustrated with her selfish and self-regarding friend, but she persists in trying to help, even though she has troubles of her own. One of them is her boyfriend, who is himself so self-centered that we speculate if Otilia is attracted to the sort. Albeit she tries to makes clear that she and Gabita have pressing private matters, he demands Otilia come to his house to get acquainted with his family that night. He twists it into a trial of her love. People who do that are unable to figure out that to finding the middle ground would be a confirmation of their own love.

When the friends at last locate themselves in a hotel room with the abortionist, the consequence is as callous and hardhearted as it could probably be. And frankly, that's the only way to tell the story. I do not believe that there is an effective way of telling a story that validates either a pro-life or pro-choice stance. Neither side is entirely right or wrong, so to justify an entire scenario as it would pertain to the views of one slant would not work. Cristian Munchiu's apolitical rendering of a story with a latent political backdrop creates a film that is so completely comfortable within its own earthy skin. There is not a single moment strained, forced or self-conscious. And so, the actualities of a time and a place and the effects of abortion fall into place.

Now if truth be told, the film has instigated a lot of discussion about how it displays Romanian society, but achieving an illegal abortion was likewise a big deal in America until once upon a time. The enthrallment of the film comes not only from the events that transpire revolving around the two friends, however beyond words, but in who they are, and how they act and associate. Anamaria Marinca gives a striking performance as Otilia, but allow the character of Gabita to attest to the virtuosity of Laura Vasiliu's acting.