Child's Pose (2013)

After the terrible news of a fatal car accident involving her son, a desperate mother will do anything in her power to set her child free.

Director:

Cãlin Peter Netzer

Writers:

Razvan Radulescu (screenplay), Cãlin Peter Netzer (screenplay)

Stars:

Luminita Gheorghiu, Bogdan Dumitrache, Natasa Raab

13 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Luminita Gheorghiu	...	Cornelia Keneres
Bogdan Dumitrache	...	Barbu
Natasa Raab	...	Olga Cerchez
Ilinca Goia	...	Carmen
Florin Zamfirescu	...	Domnul Aurelian Fagarasanu
Vlad Ivanov	...	Dinu Laurentiu
Mimi Branescu	...	Policeman
Cerasela Iosifescu
Adrian Titieni	...	Child's father
Tania Popa
Leontina Vaduva	...	Leontina Vaduva, the Soprano (as Leontina Väduva)
Ion Grosu
Oxana Moravec
Mihai Dorobantu
Nicolae Scarlat

Storyline

Seeing a way to reassert control over her adult son's life when he faces manslaughter charges, an affluent Romanian woman sets out on a campaign of emotional and social manipulation to keep him out of prison, navigating the waters of power, corruption and influence. Child's Pose is based on the sense of loss of parents who have to send their children away-physically and psychologically. The parent-child relationship is re-assessed through a son in his 30s that wants to escape from his mother, who in turn wants to keep her adult son by her side. The mother's character is quite familiar, but this film is unique in that the director delicately portrays how the controlling mother wants to deny that her son is destined to leave her by following the characters' emotional flows and gazing at their twisted desires. Luminita Gheorghiu turns in an extraordinary performance in playing a mother struggling to "save" her son. Heading to the conclusion, the film shows that the unhealthy mother-son ...

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Plot Keywords:

mother son relationship | corruption | tragedy | familial stereotypes | problem | 

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Taglines:

How far will a mother go to right a son's wrong?

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

In Italy the title was re-written with a typo in it ('Il Caso Kerenes' instead of the correct spelling of the family name Keneres) and the film was advertised on posters and published on DVD with this typo there.

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Quotes

Cornelia Keneres: What did I do wrong?
Barbu: Never mind now. I'm putting this on the table. You can say yes or no. You either let me call you when I feel like it, or it's nothing. And a suggestion. If it's hard, find a substitute. A dog, a lover, a hobby. People your age visit the Pyramids.
Cornelia Keneres: Other people my age have a normal relationship with their child. Parents find their fulfillment in their children. Everything they failed to accomplish, they achieve through their children.
Barbu: So we're agreed.

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Soundtracks

Visator
Written and performed by Laurentiu Duta

User Reviews

Sons and Mothers

Romania has become one of my favorite go-to countries for international cinema. Its movies certainly aren't laugh riots, but they're fascinating in their compelling grimness.

"Child's Pose" isn't anywhere nearly as depressing as other Romanian films I've seen ("The Death of Mr. Lazarescu" comes to mind), but it's still a very mournful and sad story about a spoiled brat rich "kid" (his age is never stated that I remember, but he's easily in his late 20s at least) who kills a child in an auto accident and then sits back while his overbearing mother tries to use his family's affluence to buy their way out of the consequences. The dynamic between the mother and son is fascinating, and Luminita Gheorghu as the mother gives one of the best female performances of the past year. She creates a wholly believable character that feels like the kind of person you might actually come across in actuality; she's not exactly a bad person, but at the same time she's a bit of a monster in her single-minded determination to make her and her family's lives as easy as possible without being able to maintain any perspective on what the world is like for others who are not as fortunate.

The climactic scene in which she visits the parents of the dead child and then prattles on about herself and her own son, hijacking the parents' grief for her own and making the situation all about her, is a quietly masterful feat of acting and writing. It felt SO authentic and so like people and situations I've dealt with directly myself. I wish the film had ended with that instead of giving us a forced redemptive ending that felt a tad false, but it packs a wallop nonetheless.

Grade: A

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Japan]

Country:

Romania

Language:

Romanian

Release Date:

8 March 2013 (Romania)

Also Known As:

Child's Pose

Filming Locations:

Bucharest, Romania

Box Office

Budget:

EUR850,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,955, 23 February 2014

Gross USA:

$97,170

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$994,126

Company Credits

Production Co:

Parada Film, Hai Hui Entertainement, HBO Romania

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1