Review of The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005) by Eric F — 26 Jun 2008

One of my favorite films by Martin Scorsese is "After Hours". It's an absurd film, and one that leaves the viewer helpless to the point where all you can do is laugh. Many people compare it's story to Franz Kafka's "The Trial", as it's about a man in a world that seems completely against him. However, when you compare "After Hours" to "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu", you have an entirely sane light-hearted comedic fare. "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu" sure takes Kafka-esque to a whole new level, and it's one of the most disturbing movies i've ever seen.

"The Death of Mr. Lazarescu" follows man a dying man throughout the night. As the story begins, he seems fairly normal - but by the end of the movie he cannot put together a sentence. Accompanying him is Mioara, a nurse. She's fairly irritated by him, however we definitely feel that she cares about him. Throughout the night, they're met with nothing but insults, false accusations, and completely rude doctors. For instance, the first hospital Mr. Lazarescu visits, he is lectured about alcohol and is completely ignored when he mentions he had an ulcer surgery in the past. Each hospital's first idea is to send him elsewhere - it becomes a struggle to get someone who will listen for more than a minute. As the story progresses and Lazarescu becomes more and more incomprehensible, it becomes a film about Mioara and her struggle to find something, well "human".

Many people call this an eye-opening look at the Romanian health care system - but I think that's a bunch of crap. It's simply a film about dehumanizing in the time of death. There's nothing Romanian about that. It's universal. In fact, I didn't think health care was portrayed all that awful!

I absolutely loved this movie. That being said, this is never a movie i'd recommend to anyone I know. It's so dark and foul - there are perhaps 3 or 4 characters in the film that show any semblance of heart. This was marketed as a "dark comedy", but there's absolutely nothing to laugh about. It's a film that leaves you helpless, knowing that Mr. Lazarescu is going to die and no one is going to do anything about it. And frankly, besides Mioara, there isn't a single person who could possibly care.

The beauty of the film is that it never makes any attempt to make "drama". There's absolutely no score, and the camera movements are as minimalist as they were in "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days". It's one of the most heart wrenching films i've ever seen and you never had some of the typical things you'd expect from a drama. No one cried to showed their pain, there was no slow motion - it was simply presented to us. Steady, handheld shots take us through the whole film.

The performances all around are delightful. Ion Fiscuteanu, who plays Mr. Lazarescu, goes through some absolutely drastic changes throughout the course of the film and it never seems forced. He's dwindling down to what he becomes by the end of the film - there's never any big "jumps" that startle us in this development. Luminita Gheorghiu, Mioara, is an unforgettable heroin that we grow to love. It's definitely an on screen pairing that i'll never forget.

A lot of people are bound to hate this movie. I'd consider myself very patient with film and it takes a whole lot to bore me - but i'd admit that at a few times throughout this I was getting restless. While the film is never "boring", it's simply hard to be involved in such a grim world for two and a half hours. It's absolutely emotionally draining - by the time the credits come around you're a shell of yourself.

If you do check this out, don't dismiss it before you are able to establish it's pace. It's extremely slow, but if you stick around with it it's incredibly rewarding. I loved this.