"4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days" - Film Review

One of the great delights of films of the 2000’s was watching several foreign countries enter excellent periods of film output. One of the most surprising instances of this was in the former Eastern European Soviet bloc, which proved to be a wellspring for great movies, and nowhere was this perhaps more apparent than Romania. Argued by many to be a “Romanian New Wave”, 2007’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days is one of the best examples of why the 2000’s were such a treasure trove for Romanian films.

Some of the best films have such simple concepts. A man whose job requires a bicycle discovers his bike has been stolen (Bicycle Thieves). A man tries to convince his fellow jurors that the defendant is innocent (12 Angry Men). Toys are alive when you’re not looking (Toy Story). These concepts are so deceptively simple that their completely brilliant, as if you wonder why no one ever thought of such an idea before. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days has an incredibly simple, but incredibly stark and painful, premise: a woman helps her friend get an illegal abortion.  

In 1987 Soviet Romania getting abortions are not only illegal, but incredibly dangerous. But when Otilia Mihartescu’s (Anamaria Marinca) roommate Gabriela “Găbiţa” Dragut (Laura Vasiliu) asks for her help to get the operation done, she’s too kindhearted to refuse. Much of the film focuses on Otilla as she prepares for and makes sure that everything happens according to plan. But, of course, it doesn’t go as planned, as small everyday things occur (the hotel clerk forgot to write their reservation down so they’re forced to go to a different hotel) and careless decisions (Dragut doesn’t feel comfortable doing the initial meeting with Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov) so she sends Otilla instead) lead to tragic, unnerving consequences. 

If it weren’t so thoroughly humanistic and so competently (even inspiringly) crafted, this idea in of itself could be a terrible slog to watch. It’s a dark, dark film; the cinematography is marred with a bleak, dull, dreary, downcast appearance that fits the film’s tone of realism. But amongst all this sadness and sense of despair is Otilia, such a fully realized and likable character, and so convincingly and strongly played by Marinca, that she carries the film through some of its more unsettling moments. 

The film is not only emotionally involving, but technically impressive as well. There’s a large number of wonderfully executed long takes that inform the film’s sense of gritty, unswerving realism and make for a highly engrossing experience (even as you often want to look away with claustrophobic unease and discomfort). The sound design is also great; unique stylistic choices for shooting scenes are combined with interesting forms of how aural information is provided to us (purposefully obscured in the background, unexpectedly delivered offscreen, etc.).

The film finds a powerful, small scale human drama to tell amongst the midst of more pressing historical issues, and tells it with conviction, honesty, and humanity. It works as both a nuanced meditation on the Nicolae Ceauşescu era’s repression in Romania, as well as the difficulties both physically and psychologically of abortions. It’s not a film for everyone, but it’s an artistically potent, deeply visceral narrative that shows what filmmaking can be capable of when artistically and creatively done right.

Grade: A