The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005) User Reviews

A Hellish Ride

[tributarystu · 9/10 · 23 September 2005]

Mr. Lazarescu: nearing 63, lives alone with his three cats, underwent surgery due to ulcer, has a sister still living in Romania and a daughter who left (it seems) unannounced and moved to Canada. This is the man: old, alone and ill. A terrible fate.

Puiu's movie, inspired from true events (some years ago, a man was transported from one hospital to the other with a most tragic consequence) follows its protagonist through the final stages of his life: feeling ill, Lazarescu calls for an ambulance and awaits its (delayed) arrival drinking and making telephone calls. As the hands of the clock turn and the ambulance is nowhere to be heard or seen, the old man goes next door, trying to get some help from the neighbors: a stereotype of their kind. Once the ambulance finally arrives, Lazarescu embarks on a most dreadful road trip, from hospital to hospital, in an elaborate attempt to diagnose and operate him. The story begins.

It would be unfair not to acknowledge the film's authenticity from the outset. Truly segmented - as the director himself affirmed, regarding "Lazarescu" as the first in six stories about the Romanian capital - in several (short) "stories of Bucharest", we meet most intriguing characters and situations, each of them highly rewarding on different levels. Good doctors, bad doctors, grumpy doctors, snobbish doctors, pitiful doctors - all the guys and girls our great medical system can offer. Still, some continue to resemble human beings, which - to a certain degree - is quite an achievement.

The bad light Puiu sheds on them may be diminished by the fact that the night Lazarescu chose to fall ill was most unfortunate: a terrible car accident filled most of the hospitals so that it was extremely difficult to find a place for an old, drunk man who was automatically labeled as a drinker and treated as such. Few characters in the film show authentic sympathy for Lazarescu, as most of them just want to get on with the job and do themselves a greater good. There is no such concept of readiness to help a fellow man struggling between life and death: commodity reigns. Unlike Lazarus, our main character will most probably not rise from the dead. And the people who still stand and didn't give their everything are up to their throats in guilt.

But this is the terrible, depressing half of the story. A most regretful reality. Cristi Puiu's and Razvan Radulescu's (a bit overlong) script is at times filled with moments of sheer irony, sarcasm and cynicism, all worth their laughs. Some of these moments are brilliant. Lazarescu is witty and gutsy, as long as he can talk. He is a man who - despite what others think - wants to stand up for himself and would rather not let anyone treat him like scum. Sadly, though, all is part of a gigantic vicious circle: doctors remain people and patients are not at all different. Flawed. Yet, there is a question of humanity and dignity involved. A choice between what is right and what is easy, as the saying goes.

A Nightmare Journey Into the Romanian Health Care System

[evanston_dad · 9/10 · 7 February 2007]

For anyone who has made a trip to or has accompanied a loved one to the emergency room, "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu" may be too realistic to bear.

A few years ago, my family called the ambulance for one of our relatives. He was having vague back pain -- we couldn't get him to communicate with us about it. He didn't want to go to the hospital, but his pain was too great for him not to. He is an alcoholic, and to this day lives under the assumption that none of us know he's an alcoholic, so I think his fear of the hospital had somewhat to do with the fear that his "secret" would be exposed. We ended up in a living hell of smug doctors, each with a different diagnosis of his condition, but who were all in agreement that the patient should be treated like dirt because of his addiction. If he wasn't going to care about his own health, they seemed to think, then why should they?

So needless to say, despite the fact that it takes place in Romania, "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu" hit frightfully close to home for me, as it's about a lonely, alcoholic man and his nighttime trip into the purgatory of emergency-room bureaucracy. The foreign setting aside, this film could have taken place in the USA and been no different. Nobody has time for Mr. Lazarescu, everyone has a different theory as to what is wrong with him, the nurses are more interested in making sure paperwork is filled out than they are in taking care of the living, breathing human being suffering -- and perhaps dying -- on the stretcher in front of them. In one scene, the doctors insult and belittle the ambulance nurse when she tries to offer her own assessment of Mr. Lazarescu's condition, holding their advanced schooling over and against her. We don't learn much about Mr. Lazarescu, and so we see events occur from the perspective of this paramedic who takes charge of him and carts him from one hospital to the next in a desperate attempt to find one that will treat him. To her, Mr. Lazarescu is a job, yet she's the closest thing to a caring relative he has, so cold and indifferent is the rest of the health care world.

This film is astonishing in its meticulous detail, and it's hard to believe it's not a documentary, something out of the world of Fredrick Wiseman. Most scenes are filmed in long takes, the camera standing back at an objective distance simply capturing the whirl of human activity taking place around it. The acting is amazing, for the very reason that no one seems to be acting. It's a deeply unsettling film; we know Mr. Lazarescu will likely die -- from cancer if not from the surgery he's about to undergo when the film closes, and anyway, the title tells us as much. But we don't see him die in the film -- the last scene is of him being washed, shaved and dressed for surgery, a human being reduced to a slab of living flesh on a table, robbed of even his last shred of dignity, while no one appears to care. Somehow, that lack of closure is one of the most unsettling things in the film; it captures the feeling one has when you've finally gotten your loved one to the hospital and all you can do is wait, not sure whether or not you're going to see him alive again.

Grade: A

as sad as life itself

[fw-1 · 7/10 · 9 August 2006]

This movie is certainly not a comedy as some reviews claimed. This is a documentary-like shot movie about being old, lonely and dying. Dehumanization and absence of compassion are also two of the themes treated here. The story is focused on the context of Romanian hospitals, but this could be generalized to most social systems globally, i think. And my own experience of old people dying in hospitals here in Belgium is of course not so awful, but somehow related to Mr. Lazarescu's experience. And even the nice characters, who really try to help, don't really change anything to the poor guy's fate. So this movie is really deeply pessimistic. In my opinion, it was also a bit too long (about 150 min.) and definitely not easy-watching. But interesting and thought-provoking (and a bit depressing too...)

Kafka and Mr. Lazarescu

[flasuss · 10/10 · 29 September 2005]

Winner of the Un Certain Regard in Cannes, is like a version of "E.R" truly realistic, with the good, bad, indifferent, attentive, humble, arrogant, and, above all, human doctors. The title-character is far from being a hero, but that makes it easier to sympathize with him, which is essential here: we really feel like we were Lazarescus, going from hospital to hospital waiting for the help, never being treated properly, and the situation getting worse and worse as times goes by. Puiu's creates a documentary-like atmosphere to an almost Kafka-like situation, and fills the movie with dark humor and moments which can be shocking, but are never there just for that purpose. The entire cast delivers solid performances, specially Fiscuteanu as the remarkable Lazarescu Dante Remus and Luminita Gheorghiu as the paramedic. Reminded me of Hitchcock's "The Wrong Man" (one of his best and certainly the most overlooked), another documentary-like film about a man in a absurd, but also realistic, situation in a system that doesn't care about him. One of the best pictures of 2005.

Slow paced, but ultimately good movie.

[siderite · 8/10 · 6 November 2005]

This is one of those movies that you remember because it was different from any other. Well, the Anglo-Saxon viewers will probably remember Bringing Out the Dead with Nicholas Cage and find similarities. But this is not a film that focuses on the characters, but on the system, the people are ordinary people with ordinary needs and flaws, working inside a system that itself is not perfect.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a movie that wants to shock by presenting horrible flaws in a medical system we all need to trust, it is a film that presents the system close to reality, maybe even in a better light than most of us Romanians see it, and still flawed.

The story itself is based on a true event and the end is completely non judgemental. You get to see it and think about it, that is it. The true beauty of the film is the normality of every situation, the calm or unrest of people that is completely ordinary and the way it drags the subject of the movie (Lazarescu himself) from a sickly lonely old man, but otherwise a normal human being, to the end.

I think it is a good film overall, a great film as Romanian films are concerned, and also a good watch for non Romanians as well.

A terrifying truth of the health care system

[ruangvith · 9/10 · 14 September 2006]

This movie is so real that it's terrifying! I'm a doctor practicing in my home country, Thailand. And as I was watching this movie, I was like; "O, my God, how does this Romanian director know all about this?" No, I'm not that rude like those doctors in the film but I've been seeing such scenes for a long time since my days in medical school. We do hate drunken, we do hate patients who are still ruining themselves despite of their fatal medical history (that's why I became a pediatrician), we do hate those folks who think they know better than us, we do hate a stretcher coming in at 3 in the morning and even worse when we're leaving our shift, etc. All those evils we do and Puiu puts it on the screen. See it for yourself and try to appreciate these crazy facts of life, no matter you're a medical staff or not. It's also entertaining while telling the truth. A good story telling really.

A stunning evocation of real-time medical hell

[Chris Knipp · 9/10 · 17 November 2005]

Shown at the New York and Chicago film festivals, October 2005. A Tartan Films release in the US, limited release scheduled for May 2006.

Puiu was inspired at nineteen by Jim Jarmusch's "Stanger Than Paradise" to become a filmmaker. He says "ER" is syndicated in Rumania: "When you watch the American show, there's movement in every direction, the choreography of the characters is amazing -- but I can't believe any of it." In "Mr. Lazarescu" Puiu does an "ER," Rumanian style. There's movement in only one direction -- following sixty-something Lazarescu, a drinker with a sore belly and a terrible headache, on a Saturday night in Bucharest when there has been a bad bus accident, after he calls 911. Puiu throws out hints of profundity with names in the script like Lazarus, Virgil, Dante, Remus, and Angel; and the trek from hospital to hospital as Lazarescu's diagnosis changes and his condition worsens can be seen as a journey through Hell. But the film didn't win the Un Certain Regard top prize at Cannes this year because of any message. It's Puiu's attention to detail, the precise planning of dialog and camera positions that gives a sense of documentary accuracy to the action and makes the film compulsively watchable and somehow unique and yet universal.

A splendid movie. Probably one of the top five selections of the New York Film Festival. There is much that can be said about it but really only one thing need be said: see it as soon as you can. Watch for a DVD release.

It's amazing to see this movie rated as comedy

[cristi007 · 7/10 · 11 November 2005]

It's amazing to see this movie rated as comedy, and reading other people's comments I see the reasons it's so well rated differently. This movie it's a hard to swallow. Not comedy, maybe drama, supra-realistic. It's incredible for most of the people in most civilized countries that what you see there is what happens as a routine in Romania. No wonder Romania's minister of health didn't want to be present at the premiere in Bucharest. This movie is a very realistic reflection of what old or seek people get in Bucharest after paying their medical assurances for a lifetime. Of course it's a movie and there are also side aspects; but seeing the action.. it was nothing new for me. I've been through it with someone very dear to me, and i know what's happening in those hospitals.

More than it seems

[mihaela_sra · 10/10 · 31 October 2005]

Indeed, this movie means a lot more than it seems to.

It is not only about a poor sanitary system. It is also about old age, loneliness, illness, about physical and mental degradation. It is about major as well as minor facts of life, about keeping the human feelings despite of hostile conditions. It is about obedience and dignity. It is about love and care. About bed luck, when it comes, about how to face it.

It is not a documentary; it is not a mass media investigation. It is an art movie, and if it was only about the sanitary system, such a gifted artist like Cristi Puiu shouldn't bother at all. Besides, you know, it is not only about what you say, it is a lot about how you say it. Just have a look and see a great screen play, a great director and great, great, great actors.

A serious movie about health care and human dignity

[bandw · 7/10 · 18 March 2010]

The story is very simple. Mr. Lazarescu, an older man, has been suffering from bad headaches for several days and finally feels the need to call an ambulance to take him to the hospital. Three times hospitals refer him to other hospitals with the excuses of being too full, not having enough staff, or not having the right equipment. When Mr. Lazarescu arrives at hospital B from hospital A, the first comment at hospital B is to ask why he was brought there, since hospital A is the better place for him. It is only through the persistence of the nurse in the ambulance that Mr. Lazarescu is not just put on a gurney and left to suffer and die.

A major challenge of the movie is that Lazarescu is not a real sympathetic character--he is an unkempt alcoholic living alone with nobody who much cares for him. He loves his cats and seems to make an effort with an unresponsive sister. but a daughter in Canada is, for reasons unknown, totally out of the picture. We never know how Lazarescu wound up in his sorry state, but in many ways this is crucial to the power of the film, since it forces you to address the question of the value of each individual life, no matter how ordinary. You can understand how easy it would be to dismiss this seemingly insignificant man. Indeed, most of the health care providers tended to view Lazarescu as a problem that they would just as soon not deal with, and from their perspective of being overworked and overwhelmed and having to fill out multiple forms, you could see where they were coming from. But you keep being brought back to the realization that here is a human being in pain who needs help and, except for the nurse, that is not a big concern of those whose job it is to provide that help.

I was sobered by the comment from the doctor who said that he needed Lazarescu's signature in order to operate unless he was incapable of signing, so they might want to drive him around for awhile until he was incapable.

The questions brought up about health care are enough to drive you crazy. How much care should a country provide for each of its citizens in light of the fact that doing everything for everybody will ultimately bankrupt the country? I think Lazarescu would have gotten better care in the United States, since hospitals are required to admit patients to the emergency room, but unless significant reforms are put in place, it is only a matter of time where the situation in the U.S. will be just as portrayed in Romania as in this movie.

It's hard to watch this without thinking that someday you may be in Lazarescu's situation. The line from the movie that still haunts me was from the doctor who commented that Lazarescu's hematoma should be operated on so he could then go home and later die of colon cancer. I am sure that if I were in Lazarescu's place, I would want the pain to go away. But so I could live to die a painful death over the next year?

I found any humor to be had here to be very black.

Is This What Awaits Us?

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 30 October 2017]

I found this title on a list of outstanding foreign films. It tells the story of a man who has been forgotten, who would like to live, but who is seen as a burden to all those who he encounters. He has had ulcer surgery and apparently other serious, probably fatal ailments. He makes calls to his "loved ones." He tries to navigate his apartment, but is overwhelmed because of pain and weakness. A neighbor grudgingly tries to help him but feels the need to lecture him. It is apparent that he has had issues with alcohol in the past and is quite acerbic. Eventually, he put in an ambulance and a journey from hospital to hospital begins. At no point do the care givers treat him with simple humanity. The paramedic, a tired woman, tries to see to hits needs and get him care, but she is often rebuffed by doctors and hospital personnel. This is gut wrenching and we feel the vicarious pain. He has ceased to be of value in this society. The closing scene is very hard to watch.

Compassionate and detailed study

[gsygsy · 7/10 · 16 July 2006]

Compassionate and detailed study of the final hours of the eponymous lonely inebriate. The two and a half hours of hand-held camera irritated me from time to time, but the performances, especially the central duo - Ion Fiscuteanu as Lazarescu, Luminata Gherghiu as the unfortunate nurse who calls to treat him - pulled me back in without much trouble. There's also a basic mismatch between the documentary style and the thuddingly fictional stumbling blocks that happen along the way, but in the end the galaxy of humanity on display, and the bitter truth that this is, mostly, how we end up, gives this film a strange dignity. I say strange, because it achieves this dignity even though it depicts a character's protracted decline from an already low point. "King Lear" it obviously isn't, nor does it set out to be, but there is something Shakespearean here in the observation of a wide range of types, as well as a deep understanding of the human condition.

Torture

[billcr12 · 5/10 · 7 August 2012]

In the mood for two and a half hours of agonizing torture? I know there are masochists out in the world who have a need to suffer. Here is the perfect solution; a Romanian "dark comedy" in the style of The Hospital from 1971. Both deal with medical mistakes, but the American satire focused on a doctor played by George C. Scott, and this time it is a patient, the unfortunate Mr. Lazarescu, who is the victim of a health care nightmare.

Mr. L. lives in his apartment alone with his cats, when he begins to experience severe stomach pains. He calls for an ambulance, and after a long wait, he asks a neighbor for help. They discover that he drinks a homemade booze that is causing most of his problems. He is taken from one hospital to the next, and by the time he reaches the third one, he is unconscious. A major bus accident causes chaos, filling the emergency rooms with other patients. Meanwhile the doctors are indifferent to Lazarezcu's suffering. There is no happy ending in this marathon of misery, and although it is very realistic, almost looking like a documentary, I needed some of that homemade hooch, by the time it was over.

the circles of Dante Lazarescu

[dromasca · 8/10 · 7 August 2006]

Forty years after the last big prize received by Liviu Ciulei, director Cristi Puiu is back in the Cannes festival list of prizes with this strong but sensible creation. A new generation of Romanian cinema makers is born, and it not only succeeds in making a strong statement about the situation in today's Romania, but does it in a way that makes sense for international audiences.

There are three levels one can see Puiu's film. The first is the relation between the single human and the medical system. 'Moartea domnului Lazarescu' is the anti-'ER' with the universal character of the paternal doctor, playing God just to hide his own lack of competence and his indifference is kind of universal.

Then we have the story of Dante (yes!) Lazarescu descending in five hours the spiral stairs between being a pauper drunken in today's Bucharest towards almost certain physical death. An yet, despite the gradual physical degradation admirably acted by Ion Fiscuteanu, Mr. Lazarescu keeps intact his moral and human dignity, even as he slowly slides into a comma.

I am not sure whether folks who did not live in Romania or other former communist countries will catch easily the third layer. Lazarescu lives in a world in decomposition. Dictature is gone, but no social help system replaced it, his family is far away, his neighbors are simple people, indifferent and hardly coping with their own problem. Yet, in this decrepit medium he will find in the assistant Mioara a caring person, who will not only try to save him, but will ease his last hours with the feeling that yet there is somebody who cared for him. It's not quality of life, it's more - quality of humanity.

The death of dignity. What a show!

[alokparanjape · 9/10 · 20 June 2008]

I thought the film, above all was a brilliantly crafted, perfectly paced film. Its narrative was so well developed that the film, like life, lent itself to a lot of interpretation. What I found most intriguing was the power dynamics in the whole medial system and then by extension in the society. The colourful old man with his cats in his apartment is the king to start off with. He has supreme authority, he's the owner of the house. He enjoys freedom to drink, to live the way he wants, and he's not about to entertain anybody's objections to the way he lives his own life. The moment he requires someone else's help, he loses his authority. The neighbour who's better than him is now in control. then the nurse, then the doctors, then the doctors, then the doctors. every time as one person loses his authority, Mr. lasarescue becomes more and more insignificant. because he becomes more and more dependent. By the end of it, he becomes so insignificant, that when he's lying limp on the stretcher, stripped naked, the camera holds him for a moment, and then, it does not even matter whether he's dead or alive. The entire process, his entire journey in the film is a constantly gradual degradation of his independence, his freedom and his dignity as a person, as a human being. This entire journey is the death of his personality, his significance. This is The Death of Mr. Lasarescue.

Can't wait to see more from this director!

A fierce dissection of the maladies concealed amongst human relationships in our society

[lasttimeisaw · 8/10 · 7 October 2015]

Romanian writer-director Cristi Puiu's second-feature, which debuted in Cannes and won Un Certain Regard Award, and has received numerous awards and instantly established Puiu as a pioneering force of the Romanian New Wave movement starting from the noughties, like his compatriots Cristian Mungiu (4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS, 2007, 9/10 and BEYOND THE HILLS 2012), Corneliu Porumboiu (12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST 2006, and POLICE, ADJECTIVE 2009) and Calin Peter Netzer (CHILD'S POSE 2013).

The story is inspired by a true event, and the title is a big spoiler of Mr. Lazarescu's (Fiscuteanu) fate, he is a 62-year-old widower, lived alone with his three cats in a squalid apartment in Bucharest, one normal Saturday, he calls for an ambulance since he has headache and stomach pain, but it never arrives, so he has to seek aid from his next-door neighbours Sandu (Ana) and his wife Mihaela (Dogaru), Sandu calls again for an ambulance when they find out there is blood in Lazarescu's vomit, this time, it finally arrives with a middle-aged paramedic Mioara (Gheorghiu), who decides to bring him to a hospital immediately for fear that he has colon cancer. Unfortunately, a severe bus accident just happened not too long ago nearby, the hospitals are in full steam, thus they, with the ambulance driver Leo (Spahiu), embark on an exhausting odyssey from different hospitals, due to various reasons, the hospitals are crammed with injured passengers from the accident, working overtime with stress and fatigue or personal judgement towards Lazarescu, a stinky old drunkard, who doesn't value his own health by habitually drinking even though he had an ulcer surgery over a decade before, doctors refuse to admit him although clearly he is gravely ill. Lazarescu's condition deteriorates rapidly during the course, only in a fourth hospital, doctors reluctantly agree an emergent operation to remove a blood clot in his brain, by that time, he has already fallen into unconsciousness, and the film aptly ends.

Shot archly in hand-held camera, unescorted with score (save the two songs in the opening and ending credits), the most prominent feature of this daring picture is the TV documentary style of shooting, the camera-work faithfully records even the minutest movement of its objects with intimate urgency, from the dilapidated apartment, to the run-down ambulance, to real hospitals, it non-judgmentally observes the happening with aplomb and relentlessly non-protruding, immaculately meshes with a sterling cast, whose performances are so spontaneous and realistic, no trace of acting can be detected, although they are all pros. The MVP, apart from our protagonist Fiscuteanu, who uncannily has passed away in 2007 because of the same colon cancer, is Gheorghiu's Mioara, she is the one who determinedly stays with Mr. Lazarescu, a cranky stranger she has just met, and witnesses his unfair treatment, but cannot help, whereas she has to tolerate all the snide and reproach from the superior and opinionated doctors silently. It is a chilling story, one might argue, timing is not on his side, poor Mr. Lazarescu, if only there was no bus accident maybe he could have been treated in time, yet, this is merely a plot device to aggravate the situation, to put those angels-in-white in a crucible to reveal their disguised shortcomings which might hide quite well under usual circumstances. Down to the nitty-gritty, what disheartening is the responsibility-shifting strategy, the rampant distrust from different hospitals, the bureaucratic procedures, the knee-jerking response from all the doctors is the same, blaming Lazarescu for his drinking problem, clearly, it is not the right time to scold, for doctors, their mission is to save life, not preaching a patient when he is in dire need of operation, frankly speaking, Lazarescu is not an amicable person, but this doesn't give them an excuse to stand in a moral high point and mistreat such an old soul in his critical moment.

The medical system has its flaws, for sure, but what I find more admirable is that it grittily lays bare the ugly truth - how easy to ruin a man life because of one's own bias, it is not personal any more, it fatally damages the foundation of our society. Also, imagine, if Mr. Lazarescu has a next-of-kin with him, who can fight for his right when being shuffled, the denouement might not be the same. In a nutshell, the film is a fierce dissection of the maladies concealed amongst human relationships in our society, highly thought-provoking and a must-see for cineastes.

Brrrrrr!

[Spuzzlightyear · 8/10 · 8 October 2005]

The medical system, if you want to call it that, because there's nothing really systematic about it, is savagely explored in the curiously interesting " Death Of Mister Lazarescu", a movie that I'm liking more and more now that I think back on what I saw. Essentially following a hellish night of a lout who gets head and chest pains and then dares to call the ambulance and better yet, dares to go to a hospital. I kind of wonder about this exposure of the medical system, even though it does take place in Romania, whether the same thing could happen here, eg, the type of medical care largely depends on your social class and whether you have enough money or not. Having said that. The lead actor, one Ion Fiscuteanu, is simply phenomenal in the title role as a belligerent old drunk who rather grudgingly goes to the hospital, and as he gets shuffled from hospital to hospital (largely because of a bus accident that swamped many of the E.Rs in the city, becomes less and less communicative… What a show, and what heartless people the hospital people are! Not just to the patient, who can't stop commenting about his drinking, but also to the EMT's, who dare to offer medical opinions but then are shot down because "they are'nt doctors". OUCH! What a show! If you ever get a chance, try to go see this one.

This is not a movie about an ex 2nd world country

[belendemaria · 14 February 2007]

I just want to respond the first comment (or at least the comment marked as "most useful"), saying that this is not a movie about reality on a post-Comunist country. This is a movie about reality in countries that don't belong to the first Word. I come from Argentina, and my country has never been run as a communist country. Every president we had might have had politics different than other countries, but certainly, never even *near* communism. And that *happens*. It happens *every single day*. Do you know why I didn't enjoyed that movie? Because I couldn't stop thinking that at least half of the population in my country has no chance but to assist to public hospitals and suffer that luck *every day*. I'm lucky I belong to a middle class that can afford private hospitals, but as I see on the news, people go to hospitals at five in the morning to ask for an appointment with a doctor. And I see how doctors who work at public hospitals are frustrated when they can't help their patients because hospital doesn't have the appropriate equipment. It's really sad. It's not post-communism. It's reality at third word countries (and third word doesn't always mean we are from the African country where they are all starving, cause we are doing just fine. We're not that bad.) And the reason these countries have this issues is because, well, like you've seen our economy minister saying it on TV, the big boys are trying to keep us down.

I do hope that The Death of Mr. Lazarescu has changed something in our head. It's not just a movie, It's almost a documentary... Because i can assure you that is a real story. Not a reality show, a real story.

A good and necessary film, but maybe too long

[tlespagnol · 7/10 · 28 May 2005]

The film has been awarded a Prize in the "Un certain regard" category during the 2005 Cannes Festival. It is indeed a certain look at the Romanian contemporary society that Cristi Puiu proposes here. It would made an excellent documentary on the current and depressing state of the the Romanian medical system and medical staff psyche. Having lived in Romania, long enough I can assure you, the movie really sticks to the reality. Acting is excellent. Just two complaints from my behalf. The topic is depressing enough and Romania's image abroad bad enough not to overemphasize it by the dim and dull lightning of the scenes. Two hours and a half might be a bit challenging for the audience, even in Romania (I've seen Romanian viewers walking out of the theater). Two hours would have been enough to get the message and the feel of it.

How important the name is?

[osvaldoa · 8/10 · 8 July 2007]

I rented this movie at my district's DVD store. I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and our native language is Spanish.

Before choosing the movie, I read it's synopsis and it said it was a "Comedy" OK. It is clearly a terrible drama, no doubt about it. No problem, I love dramas.

After finishing the movie, I wanted to know if he died or not!! OK, maybe it is not so important, but I just wanted to know. So I open IMDb site to read some comments. And I realize the real name was "the DEATH of Mr Lazarescu"!!

The translation to Spanish used here is: "La noche del Sr. Lazarescu" It means The NIGHT of Mr. Lazarescu.

Conclusion: You can dramatically change people perception and expectations of a movie just by changing it's name... and it's genre...

Be prepared for a long ride to the hospital

[claudine-7 · 7/10 · 30 October 2006]

My partner rented this through Netflix (we miss so many small films that race through town). I didn't know what to expect, but he _thought_ that it was going to be a comedy. It is not. There are no extras to help you figure out anything: a true 'no frills' DVD. No music soundtrack during the film, no English in the credits in case you want to knowwhat the one song at the beginning and the one song at the end were. In any case, I heard that the director was inspired by ER and wanted to make a Romanian version. That's a very good comparison--it's like a two & half hour ER episode with the little side stories and everything. Intensely grim, though. Naturalistic almost to the point of pain, as though you truly were just watching Life unfold...or rather, Death. Don't know how the director got those performances out of his actors. They are completely unconscious of the camera. It's unnerving, if you can last the whole length of the film.

Incredibly unique portrayal of post-communist countries

[trixie650203 · 10/10 · 26 November 2007]

I just saw this one yesterday evening on TV and I am still under its influence. I also read some of the comments and it is obvious that you guys in the West do not have the slightest clue as to what it is like in the post-communist countries despite 18-19 years of "freedom". The film has personally struck me because hospitals are pretty much the same in Hungary and so are the members of staff. Cynical doctors, exhausted nurses, underpaid assistants all around waiting for your money to be slipped in their pockets in the prerequisite envelope. I escorted both my father (Mr. Lazarescu even resembled him) and my mother in many hospitals here in Budapest, Hungary and had exactly the same impressions here. Of course, this is not a piece of entertainment in the strictest sense but I have never seen such a hyperrealistic film before. I could totally identify myself with the characters and the environment seemed so sadly familiar. I cannot but give it a straight 10 out of 10.

Good acting and narratively realistic

[linyuwei1 · 7/10 · 18 August 2006]

This film was advertised as a black comedy. But it is much 'blacker than a black comedy'. The most funny part is probably at the beginning with Mr. Lazarescu's neighbours around.

The pace of the film is quite slow. The content is very narrative and down to earth. It's the outstanding performance from the protagonists that bolsters up the whole film.

Apart from the good acting, the director also delivers a realistic view on the relationship between doctors and nurses, and between doctors and patients in a medical system. This is very different from the mainstream TV series e.g. ER, House or Hollywood films that usually treat doctors like god or hero. It mirrors a growing problems in a health care system across the world. But interestingly this rather universal phenomenon on the hierarchy in a health system is documented so well by Romanian.

slow and repetitive; pure torture to watch

[green22 · 1/10 · 17 November 2006]

This slow, painfully repetitive, poorly written (and/or translated) film is one of the worst films i've ever seen. Billed as a "black comedy" it wasn't black or comical. The story (if you can call it that) takes forever to develop and then it repeats itself over and over with the exact same dialog and character stereotypes in each scene. All shot with a hand-held video camera and cast with horrible actors, each scene is so amateurish that I had to keep watching because I couldn't believe that it kept getting progressively worse. How this movie ever got made or distributed is a mystery to me. And I believe this is nominated for a best foreign language feature academy award??? Am I missing something?

Concept movie about a road to death.

[raineater777 · 9/10 · 16 October 2006]

OK. i read through many postings on this forum and i would like to state some opinions and some facts about this movie.

1. Hand-held camera is bad. No, the hand-held camera adds to the realism of the movie. It is the cinematographer's way of putting the viewer in the middle of the movie. YOu can also see examples of this in "Blairwitch Project", "Kids", "Reize", "Wassup rockers". An extreme example of hand-held camera usage is found in Blairwitch Project, where whole audiences got sick because of the camera movement. They were drawn in the movie by the continuous movement of the camera (this is taken from live experience, we move and turn our bodies and our heads no matter what we do, at least in conscious state).

2. The name of mister Lazarescu. It's not "Lazarus", it's "Lazarescu". While many of you found a similitude to the biblical name of "Lazarus", allow another idea too. The title shows us even from the beginning that this character is going to die, and by the way everything goes in this movie, he is, there is no denying it. Unlike Lazarus, mister Lazarescu is not going to rise up again, it could be just an irony of the director. And the idea naming him Lazarescu could have another root, too. In Romania, names ending in "escu" are very common. I could name a lot but hear me out: Popescu, Lupescu, Piscupescu, Alexandrescu, Gheorghescu, Ionescu, Vladimirescu, Anghelescu.. a lot and a lot more names end in "escu" (not all though, we're not an "Escu" country). SO basically what the director is trying to tell us is that the we could be the main character, any of us could end up like that unless we have the right connections, papers, credibility.

3. the ending sucks. Bigtime.

No, it doesn't. And for those of you who watched the movie and *Still* don't know if he dies or not : T h e a n s w e r i s i n t h e m o v i e' s t i t l e, so how come you don't get it? Are you blessed with such romanticism that you want a happy ending even though the very title of the film (not to mention what goes on in the story) is TELLING you that Mr. Lazarescu .. dies? After seeing the realism that goes on in the movie, yet you may bring yourself to believe a fairytale ending?

The ending doesn't suck just because you couldn't bring yourself to remember the movie's title, and for the following reason: This whole movie was an "atmosphere", or "situation" movie. It contained and was *about* a simple, non-singular situation that goes on in Romania (and i bet other countries too). It was about the undignifying road to death of an old man, treated in an almost naturalistic way. Filth, bad jokes, hypocrisy and everything you can also find in reality.

So basically, it didn't even matter if he lived or died (and by now we should know he dies), because the message had already been carried out.

4. the sound was horrible, horrible i tell you.

I am writing this for all the "sound puritans" who think everything should be as in *for example* "lord of the rings" or "witches of Eastwick" (don't get me wrong, i love that first movie's sound and cinematography, and i like the second, but to a certain degree). Those were completely different styles, they were not realistic, they were not even trying to look as a glimpse of reality, which is exactly what "MDL" is. First you have to attune yourself with the manner of the film, and that happens in the first 3 minutes, statistically speaking. If after those first minutes you still don't get what type of movie you're watching, i suggest you run, you run outside the theatre or throw the DVD away because after you'll finish watching it, you'll be writing on forums stuff like "I gave it a 2" "what is so special about this movie?" "i hated it" and further trash like that.

5. It's about the sh#tty life of Romania, we live in a dumphole.

Guys, you don't like it, move, and i assure you, close to even betting some candy bars and bubblegum on it, that USA, Canada, England, France, you name your desired destination is not stupidity-free, it's not perfect, it has its own faults which we don't see, because those countries don't like to lick their wounds in public and show off their festering wounds to the world. Stupidity, bureaucracy and carelessness weren't invented by Romanians, rest assured, so don't be hypocritical to say Romania is shitty. It is growing and that's all you should care about. If not, move and nobody will even bother to want you back, you were among the "I don't care about this sh#tty country anyway" group which did nothing.

I find it a complete insult to see a viewer that stands high on his pedestal made by Vin diesel films and points down to this movie saying it's bad. It's just a different style, you don't have to like it, i don't like Vin diesel films, but i don't try to flame them; i would if i got payed for it, there's just so much silly stuff to point out.

And as a closing point, get off your high horses, enjoy a glimpse of our Romanian reality and don't you dare comparing it to the Hollywood present "Charlies' angels" style.