Don't let yourself be scared away by the scarcity and banality of the plot written on the main page here. It's not the fault of the person who wrote it, you simply cannot add more. It sounds like a story which has been told in books and movies for hundred and thousand of times. So what's so special here? The dramatic tension that builds up and the truthfulness to ... well, to life (I know it sounds quite mundane)are quite special. Don't expect blows and strokes a la "Damage" or "La paura", you won't find them here.
After Christmas, after the time of (profane) rituals, conventions and mystifying is gone, Paul, the leading male character, hopes to begin anew, to be more truthful to himself, although knowing this will cause a lot of sorrow to some of his beloved ones. There is nothing exterior that forces him to confess the truth, knowing that this confession will bring an irremediable change to his life. Somebody else could live on, performing the same rituals and conventions (of family life, of life as a married adult with a child), Paul can't. It's up to anyone to decide how much convention and steadiness one is willing to accept feeling the growing "burden of the heart".
This is probably director Radu Muntean's most cohesive movie up to date. With his previous attempt to make a Romanian-middle-class-drama, "Boogie", I felt that there is something (small, indeed) missing, there was still something round-up. Not the case with this movie, nothing too much or too less, my grouchy self piped down. Great performances by the main actors, incredible tense scenes (the bed scene, at the dentist's, visit to Constanta, confession, Christmas Eve), naturalistic dialogue, etc. Like in other young Romanian director's movies (Puiu, Mungiu, Porumboiu), expect quite a lot of long takes, minimalist soundtrack, no hyperboles, no black and white painting. Just truthfulness.
After Christmas, after the time of (profane) rituals, conventions and mystifying is gone, Paul, the leading male character, hopes to begin anew, to be more truthful to himself, although knowing this will cause a lot of sorrow to some of his beloved ones. There is nothing exterior that forces him to confess the truth, knowing that this confession will bring an irremediable change to his life. Somebody else could live on, performing the same rituals and conventions (of family life, of life as a married adult with a child), Paul can't. It's up to anyone to decide how much convention and steadiness one is willing to accept feeling the growing "burden of the heart".
This is probably director Radu Muntean's most cohesive movie up to date. With his previous attempt to make a Romanian-middle-class-drama, "Boogie", I felt that there is something (small, indeed) missing, there was still something round-up. Not the case with this movie, nothing too much or too less, my grouchy self piped down. Great performances by the main actors, incredible tense scenes (the bed scene, at the dentist's, visit to Constanta, confession, Christmas Eve), naturalistic dialogue, etc. Like in other young Romanian director's movies (Puiu, Mungiu, Porumboiu), expect quite a lot of long takes, minimalist soundtrack, no hyperboles, no black and white painting. Just truthfulness.