Being one of the last films ever to be made during Romanian Communism,this film is far above the standards of a film made during dictatorship.In fact,you couldn't even tell the difference.. It is a beautiful love story set in the nineteenth century between a sophisticated,stylish aristocrat and a beautiful girl of humble origin-somewhat like in Visconti's Gattopardo. Although separated by social barriers and a the difference of age,their love will not become possible rather because the elderly aristocrat is,like Visconti's character,too gentleman-like,reserved,polite to show his real self. The pinnacle of this strange,strictly platonic,yet beautiful and romantic relationship will find the supreme expression of intensity towards the end of the film,during an almost overlong ball-scene,where the melancholic and stylish waltz they dance together reminds of the famous Lancaster-Cardinle scene. This scene is probably the best of the film(along the ones describing the lifestyle of the aristocrat,his voluptuous seclusion in his opulent palace)and the excessive duration does not deprive it of its beauty-in a highly artistic way the mood becomes increasingly surrealistic,symbolical,poetic without being deprived for a second of its old-fashioned,nostalgic,luxurious beauty. This film deserves to become more popular than it was by now and being discovered and watched over and over(especially for old-fashioned,romantic evenings).
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