Beyond the Hills

Beyond the Hills

Film poster
Directed by Cristian Mungiu
Written by Cristian Mungiu
Based on Deadly Confession and Judges' Book
by Tatiana Niculescu Bran
Starring Cosmina Stratan
Cristina Flutur
Cinematography Oleg Mutu
Edited by Mircea Olteanu
Production
company
Mobra Films
Release dates
  • 19 May 2012 (2012-05-19) (Cannes)
  • 26 October 2012 (2012-10-26) (Romania)
Running time
 155 minutes
Country Romania
Language Romanian

Beyond the Hills (Romanian: După dealuri) is a 2012 Romanian drama film directed by Cristian Mungiu, starring Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan.[1] The narrative follows two young women at an Orthodox convent in Romania.[2]

The film premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, where Mungiu won the award for Best Screenplay, and Flutur and Stratan shared the award for Best Actress. It was selected as the Romanian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards,[3] making the January shortlist.[4]

Plot

This is a story of two Romanian orphan girls, Voichița (Cosmina Stratan), who has become a nun in the Orthodox Church, and her troubled friend Alina (Cristina Flutur), who has been working in Germany but has returned home to visit her friend. In their previous life they were roommates at a children's home and had shared a physical relationship.

It soon becomes clear that Alina wishes for this relationship to continue, however Voichița refuses. Alina falls ill and is hospitalised and Voichița begs the priest (Valeriu Andriuță) to allow her to stay along with the nuns at the convent. The priest acquiesces to Voichița's demands, on the condition that she will be responsible should anything happen. He insists that Alina remain faithful to God and undertake confession for her sins.

Alina seeks to convince Voichița to break free of the Orthodox environment and come and join her in Germany. Voichița, for her part, tries to convince Alina to take God into her heart, in the hope that this will finally give her peace. The nuns agree to care for Alina, as they can find no other place for her to stay.

Cast

Production

The screenplay was inspired by two novels by the writer Tatiana Niculescu Bran, documenting the Tanacu exorcism, in which a young member of a monastery in Moldavia died in 2005 after an exorcism ritual. The film production was made through the director's company, Mobra Films. It also received production support from Belgium and France. It received €273,100  from Romania's National Centre for Cinema and €400,000 from Eurimages. Filming took place from November 2011 to February 2012.[2]

Release

Cast and crew at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival

The film premiered in the main competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened on 19 May.[5] At Cannes, Mungiu won the award for Best Screenplay, while Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan shared the award for Best Actress.[6]

Critical response

Dan Fainaru of Screen Daily wrote from Cannes: "Spare, unadorned and strikingly shot, Cristian Mungiu's film is an unusual rendering of a Romanian exorcism case and is bound to split both audience and critical opinions, some considering it a major achievement and others blaming it for overlong pretentious sensationalism. But it will certainly not pass unnoticed."[7]

Sight & Sound film magazine listed the film at #8 on its list of best films of 2012.[8] Mark Kermode named it his second best film of 2013 so far (from January to June).

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Cannes Film Festival 2012 line-up announced". timeout. Retrieved 2012-04-19.
  2. 1 2 Staff writer (2012-04-18). "Romania's Mungiu in Post-Production with French/Belgian Coproduction". Film New Europe. Retrieved 2012-04-22.
  3. ↑ "Romania picks 'Beyond the Hills' for Oscar race". Variety. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
  4. ↑ "9 Foreign Language Films Vie For Oscar". Oscars. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
  5. ↑ "Screenings guide" (PDF). festival-cannes.fr. Cannes Film Festival. Retrieved 2012-05-19.
  6. ↑ "Awards 2012". Cannes. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  7. ↑ Fainaru, Dan (2012-05-18). "Beyond The Hills". Screen Daily. Retrieved 2012-05-19.
  8. ↑ "Paul Thomas Anderson's 'The Master' Tops Sight & Sound's Best Of 2012". Retrieved 1 December 2012. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)

External links

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