Review of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) by Ryan H — 29 Dec 2009

I could simply tell you, dear reader, that 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (winner of the prestigious Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2007) is the best film you will ever see about the subject of abortion set in communist Romania, or, I could simply tell you it's one of the best movies you will ever see.

This film is kind of like a realistic horror movie, where issues that real people might actually encounter provide the fear, as opposed to masked, chainsaw wielding camp counselors/aliens/masked, chainsaw wielding aliens. It's among the most intense films I've ever seen. What makes it so insanely nerve racking is the hyper-realistic approach the director takes in telling this story. I wouldn't say it was done in a documentary style by any means, but it was shot in a way that I haven't really seen before. Numerous scenes consist of only one or two very long takes where the characters have entire conversations, generally not relating to the story at hand, for example, a scene at a dinner table where the camera focuses in only on the main character and her boyfriend while his family is having a full conversation around them. We really get a sense of their discomfort, which quickly becomes our own. The director hasn't said that these two people are unhappy, he is showing us.

To call this simply a movie about abortion would be highly misleading. That would be like calling Let The Right One In a vampire movie. Yes, vampirism was crucial to the story, but no, that's not what that film was about. Similarly, abortion works works as a synecdoche for the oppressive constraints during Romania's time under communist rule. Evidence to the fact that abortion isn't the main issue of the film is the simple observation that the character getting the abortion isn't even the main character.

If I had to give a concise description of this film, I would describe it as a film with the beauty of the later works of Krzysztof Kieslowski with the tense horror of a Michael Haneke film. It's a horror film based entirely in reality. The superb acting and astounding camera work help make this among the best films I've seen from this entire decade (right now I'm thinking it's second only to There Will Be Blood).