Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner is a stark contemplation on faith, family and the limits of tolerance when deeply held beliefs and social norms collide. The film focuses on a devout Romanian immigrant family living in Norway whose five children are taken by the authorities after the eldest daughter arrives at school with visible bruises. The parents, Mihai (Sebastian Stan) and Lisbet (Renate Reinsve), deny abuse and become embroiled in a long fight to regain custody that, as the case proceedings develop, increasingly becomes a clash between their conservative Christian beliefs and Norway’s secular child protection system.
Throughout the ordeal, the Gheorghius feel largely isolated, even though Lisbet is from the remote village (located at the base of a towering mountain that’s part of Norway’s remarkable fjord system). Mihai, who just lost his parents (part of the reason for the move), speaks limited Norwegian, hampering communication, though he manages somewhat better in English. As parents of two teens, two elementary schoolers and one nursing newborn, the Gheorghius are strict by most standards, denying them cellphone and internet access and insisting on weekly Bible studies and daily prayer. They are also — as depicted — loving, caring and respected by their charges, and integrate well into the township’s general population, including being members of a Pentecostal church.
Mungiu, part of Romania’s exciting new wave of filmmakers (others on that list include Cristi Puiu and Radu Jude), is no stranger to common domestic issues with religious overtones that ruffle the fabric of society and blow up into life-altering occurrences. His other Palme d’Or winner, “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” (2007), dealt with illegal abortion in Romania. There as well as here, small intimate dramas play out around deeply drawn characters unwittingly pulled into unenviable and claustrophobic situations. The Gheorghius’ eldest children have already been taken into state custody when Child Protective Services show up to inform Mihai and Lisbet of the situation and claim the other three.
To this point we have not witnessed any whiff of corporal punishment, let alone a raised voice from either parent, so inherently we feel their frustration and haplessness as the bureaucratic process coldly strips them of their children and their dignity — all with the false, hopeful promise that “all will come out in the investigation.” This we know will not lean in the Gheorghius’ favor, since Mihai has signed a statement even after he protests the nature of the terms (hitting and striking versus patting and lightly slapping a hand from a hot stove). The language barrier adds to the disconnect, and the church, seemingly fearful of the Norwegian governmental agency, encourages the Gheorghius to more or less go it on their own.
The spiraling situation turns hopeless when their church-referred lawyer quits because they won’t quietly play their part in the kangaroo court. They make a late plea to a neighbor, Mia (Lisa Carlehed), ironically the wife of the schoolmaster and stepmother of a teen who played with the family’s eldest daughter. She reluctantly takes the case, restoring a glimmer of hope.
Given the dour pacing of the film and somber overtones, Mungiu clearly isn’t interested in distilling a didactic statement. He wants to stoke an internal conversation of conscience — one that for American sensibilities may feel a tad obtuse or staid initially. The film overall is a quiet tremor with a sense of finality lingering from atop the mountain high — a boulder of moral judgment teetering perilously above.
As provocative as Mungiu’s slow emotional burn is, it could not become the hot brand it renders in the end without the talents of the cast. The nearly unrecognizable Stan proved himself more than “Captain America” action figure fodder (he was the Winter Soldier) as the young POTUS-to-be in “The Apprentice” (2023). Here, he shows another level of range as a pious man looking to his faith to guide him as the bureaucratic law boxes him in and plays his sensibilities against each other. (The actor makes good casting sense, having been born in Romania in the 1982 before becoming a U.S. citizen in 2002). There’s great internal rage projected under his stoic, methodical facade.
Also multilingual and seemingly limitless in their range across roles and genres is Reinsve, seen this summer — and surprisingly underutilized — in the hit indie horror chiller “Backrooms.” She fades into her role as matron and mother beholden to her church, husband and the chauvinistic reins of society. Her Lisbet — more in the know of the inner workings of the township — bites her tongue and ultimately becomes something of a quiet fixer behind the scenes. And not enough can be said of Carlehed’s performance as the reticent attorney, empathetic, wary and uncertain, yet steadfast and dutiful once committed. Her Mia is the kind of person you want across the street, the one you never really know or appreciate until the chips are down and they are the one to extend the helping hand.
Playing at Landmark Kendall Square Cinema
A stronger
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