The friendship between two young women who grew up in the same orphanage; one has found refuge at a convent in Romania and refuses to leave with her friend, who now lives in Germany.
Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends.
If your account is linked with Facebook and you have turned on sharing, this will show up in your activity feed. If not, you can turn on sharing
here
.
Georges and Anne are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day, Anne has an attack. The couple's bond of love is severely tested.
A teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son's custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie.
Director:
Thomas Vinterberg
Stars:
Mads Mikkelsen,
Thomas Bo Larsen,
Annika Wedderkopp
Abandoned by his father, a young boy is left in a state-run youth farm. In a random act of kindness, the town hairdresser agrees to foster him on weekends.
Directors:
Jean-Pierre Dardenne,
Luc Dardenne
Stars:
Thomas Doret,
Cécile De France,
Jérémie Renier
A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.
In New York City, Brandon's carefully cultivated private life -- which allows him to indulge his sexual addiction -- is disrupted when his sister arrives unannounced for an indefinite stay.
Director:
Steve McQueen
Stars:
Michael Fassbender,
Lucy Walters,
James Badge Dale
Two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the evening into chaos.
Director:
Roman Polanski
Stars:
Jodie Foster,
Kate Winslet,
Christoph Waltz
Alina and Voichita have been friends since their orphanage days. And they have been lovers since they became sexually mature. But despite their oath of mutual fidelity, Alina, who could not bear poverty any more, emigrated to Germany where she became a barmaid. Now she just could not take the estrangement from Alina and today she is back to Moldavia with a view to taking Voichita along with her to Germany. The only trouble is that in the meantime her girlfriend has betrayed her in falling in love with... God! Voichita indeed now lives in a convent where she plans to make vows. The priest agrees, if somewhat reluctantly, to accommodate Alina before their (hypothetical) departure. He sees all too well that not only is the young woman materialistic but hostile and troublesome as well... Written by
Guy Bellinger
Based on a true story of an exorcism gone wrong in an Orthodox monastery, Cristian Mungiu's new film could have been a simple story of innocent girl vs. superstitious religious zealots, but Mungiu never takes the easy route. Instead, he creates layers upon layers of complexity in characters, relationships and motivations until what finally happens acquires the devastating inevitability of Greek tragedy. Most of all, just like in his previous 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, he takes what could have been a mere anecdote and lays bare the societal forces that shape people's actions, be it Communism in the first, or patriarchal religion in this film. ***1/2
26 of 32 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
Based on a true story of an exorcism gone wrong in an Orthodox monastery, Cristian Mungiu's new film could have been a simple story of innocent girl vs. superstitious religious zealots, but Mungiu never takes the easy route. Instead, he creates layers upon layers of complexity in characters, relationships and motivations until what finally happens acquires the devastating inevitability of Greek tragedy. Most of all, just like in his previous 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, he takes what could have been a mere anecdote and lays bare the societal forces that shape people's actions, be it Communism in the first, or patriarchal religion in this film. ***1/2