Cea mai fericita fata din lume (2009)

Director:

Radu Jude

Writers:

Radu Jude (written by)
Augustina Stanciu (written by)

Release Date:

8 May 2009 (Romania)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Described as a family drama.

Plot Keywords:

Advertising | Lottery | Father Daughter Relationship | New Car | Juice

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Andreea Bosneag	...	Delia Fratila
Doru Catanescu	...	Mr. Arvunescu
Alexandru Georgescu	...	The client
Diana Gheorghian	...	Producer
Violeta Haret	...	Mrs. Fratila
Bogdan Marhodin	...	Viorel
Vasile Muraru	...	Mr. Fratila
Serban Pavlu	...	Director
Luminita Stoianovici	...	Make-up
Andi Vasluianu	...	Cinematographer

Also Known As:

La fille la plus heureuse du monde (France)
The Happiest Girl in the World (Europe: English title)

Runtime:

Germany:100 min (Berlin International Film Festival) | Romania:90 min (original version)

Country:

Netherlands | Romania | France | Japan

Language:

Romanian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Filming Locations:

Bucharest, Romania

Company:

HI Film Productions

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!