The Happiest Girl in the World (2009)
"Cea mai fericita fata din lume" (original title)

Described as a family drama.

Director:

Radu Jude

Writers:

Radu Jude, Augustina Stanciu

Stars:

Andreea Bosneag, Doru Catanescu, Alexandru Georgescu

3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Andreea Bosneag	...	Delia Cristina Fratila
Doru Catanescu	...	Mr. Arvunescu
Alexandru Georgescu	...	The client
Diana Gheorghian	...	Producer
Violeta Haret-Popa	...	Mrs. Fratila (as Violeta Haret)
Bogdan Marhodin	...	Viorel
Vasile Muraru	...	Mr. Fratila
Serban Pavlu	...	Director
Luminita Stoianovici	...	Gabi - make-up artist
Andi Vasluianu	...	Cinematographer

Storyline

Delia, a young Romanian girl, comes to Bucharest with her parents to collect a prize she has won in a contest organized by a soft-drinks company. The prize is a beautiful new car. All Delia has to do now is appear in front of the camera in a commercial. All goes well until it becomes clear that Delia and her parents have very different ideas about what to do with the new car. Meanwhile, the contest's sponsor needs a radiant prize-winner with a gleaming smile. A wicked satire and a psychological portrait of a society perverted by its slavery to capitalism and consumerism.

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Plot Keywords:

advertising | lottery | father daughter relationship | new car | juice | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Netherlands Romania France Japan

Language:

Romanian

Release Date:

8 May 2009 (Romania)

Also Known As:

The Happiest Girl in the World

Filming Locations:

Bucharest, Romania

Box Office

Budget:

€650,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

HI Film Productions, Circe Films, Romania Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min 100 min 90 min (original) 99 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

When the family reaches the filming site, they park their car in the parking lot near the fountain, next to the faculty of Architecture. But when the girl has a fight with her dad, and finally accepts to sign for the papers to sell the car, the car is parked near the filming site, next to the sidewalk.

User Reviews

Simple & efficient

I saw this Romanian film at Berlinale and was amazed at how much it achieves with a simple plot and a very limited budget. The film follows Delia, a teenage girl who, after winning a brand new car in some kind of sweepstakes held by a fruit juice brand, has to film a fruit juice commercial in which she has to introduce herself as the winner - the happiest girl in the world, and drink a bottle of advertised juice. That's it as much as the plot is concerned basically, and though it sounds trivial, it is at times hilarious and at times very dramatic. The director based the film after his own experience when shooting a similar commercial with a somewhat difficult girl. He uses long static takes that seemed like a bit of a gimmick at first, but after seeing the excellent actors go at each other in the more dramatic scenes, I completely forgot about it and it made perfect sense to let them do it all in one take.

So long story short, it's a great simple film that really engaged me at the dramatic parts while still making me laugh out loud a lot. See it if you get a chance!