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It's 1987 Romania under the brutal Ceausescu communist dictatorship. Gabita (Laura Vasliu) is more than 4 Months pregnant and she's desperate for a highly illegal abortion. Her friend Otilia Mihartescu (Anamaria Marinca) searches all day setting up the abortion with Mr. Bebe. He starts complaining about them not following his instructions and demands more money which the girls don't have. Then he wants sex from both women as payment. After the abortion, Otilia has to go to her boyfriend's family dinner while Gabita waits in the hotel for the abortion to take hold.

This Romanian indie is done in long extended shots. Some of them are slow but mostly, they are very engaging. Some of them are harrowing. It takes its time to get to the point of the movie. The world in this film is a cold hard place. The style of the film only adds to its harshness. There is no pretty camera tricks or beautiful shots. It's a bleak film of a bleak world. The acting is natural and stark. The movie follows Anamaria Marinca. She is mostly unemotionally as she quietly suffers the indignity of Bebe. She shows that she has a good range and she's compelling as the lead. Laura Vasliu's role is a minor one where she can be more emotional. The movie is unrelentingly in its casual bleakness.

A visceral and emotionally draining experience. Those are not typical superlatives one usually conjures while commenting on a movie, yet in this case I dare use such a characterization as a positive rendering of what I felt when watching this film.

The spartan and minimalist style of the movie only adds to its potency. Though many might find it jarring to sit through, I can only hope that people will have the patience and resolve to watch this brilliant example of movie making. If you invest your time and emotions in this one, you will not be disappointed.

The acting, camera work, cinematography are of the highest quality, especially given the budgetary restrictions and scarcity of available resources.This movie is yet more ample proof that one does not necessarily need a 200 million dollar budget to make a great film. Creativity and originality can add untold dimensions to any physical limitations and barriers.

All in all a great "little" movie about a forgotten slice of history, a little known place and, a time of horrifying brutality and oppression i.e. the so-called Golden Age (epoca de aur), Romania and Nicolae Ceausescu. This movie, "4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile/4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" is the first installment in a proposed trilogy entitled "Amintiri din epoca de aur/Tales From The Golden Age".

I'm looking forward to the next chapters...

Romania, 1987. Two years before the fall of the Ceauşescu regime, a student helps her friend to obtain an illegal abortion. "4 luni, 3 Saptamani Si 2 Zile" details the events of a single day in which both girls will face circumstances of growing despair and horror. A question is asked and answered: What would you do for a friend?

I don't think I can praise "4 luni, 3 Saptamani Si 2 Zile" highly enough. I thought that "4 luni, 3 Saptamani Si 2 Zile" was a great film, perfectly executed.

There are some particular words I would use to describe this film. Compelling, downbeat, tense, shocking, harrowing and graphic. The country of Romania itself is a character in this movie. A cold and unfriendly place. Practically everything appearing to be worn down, old and shabby. The people are tired, irritated and impatient. I think it is a snapshot of a kind of hell on Earth.

There are stunning performances by Anamaria Marinca (some people might remember how good she was a couple of years ago in "Sex Traffic" on Channel 4) and Laura Vasiliu as the two girls. (Check out the scene of Anamaria Marinca at a family birthday party. A masterclass of internalised acting and suppressed emotion. She is doing practically nothing, but her mind is elsewhere. You can see it in her eyes.) Also, a couple of words of praise for Vlad Ivanov as Mr. Bebe, the abortionist. His performance as Mr. Bebe is a calculated study of bland and indifferent evil. Quietly spoken, balding, middle aged in his comfortable jumper and comfortable shoes. Manipulative, advantage taking, awful and chilling. Really chilling.

However you line up on the subject of abortion, pro-choice or pro-life, you should see this film. One of the best of the year.

What would you do for a friend?

Cristian Mungiu's film is the most successful in what is called the Romanian Cinama New Wave, although it's not the very best in my opinion. I liked more 'The Death of Dante Lazarescu', and even 'California Dreamin' (Nesfarsit') had better chances from start. And yet '4-3-2' succeeded better than other because it vibrates different chords in the viewers souls and on different planes. Women will resonate with the story of the imposed tragedy at a personal and national level resulted from the anti-abortion policies in Communist Romania, and one cannot say it's only a pro-choice movie, it's a real indictment. If one is interested in recent European history he may see the results of what communist propaganda named the Golden Age, an apocalyptic landscape of cold, dark and loneliness. If you are Romanian and lived these times you may feel you returned in time and the end of the movie may seem the awakening from a recurring nightmare.

And if you are a fan of good cinema you will admire the virtuosity of a director who learned perfectly the lessons of Jim Jarmusch and DOGMA and transfered them in the East European space. You need the hand of a master to create those those long shots in which every detail is in place, camera, actors, lights and voices. I see from time to time older Romanian movies where I observe not that much the lack of technical means in the 70s or 80s, but more the lack of capacity of the directors to compensate this disadvantages with simplicity of concept and turn them into quality as other directors from less privileged schools of cinema have done. Well, the last films of directors like Mungiu or the late Nemescu I could see a jump ahead in quality of expression that takes many generations for other film schools.

There are many memorable scenes in this film. One of them describes a family dinner, where the principal character, a student from a lesser means family arrives invited by her boyfriend. It's his mother's birthday, and they have as guests two couples of friends from the local mid-upper class. The scene is a nine minute shot with fixed camera, focusing on four characters sited at the head of the table, with a few others voices being heard from out of the screen space. She is in the middle, and obliged to listen and participate, but she wants to be some other place, near her friend who just underwent an illegal abortion. Every minute may be fatal for the life of her friend. The dialog is not meaningless, it is a short novella on its own about the art of compromise necessary for survival in a dictatorship. And yet, she is there and is not there - all looks like a Da Vinci painting, with Jesus sited among the apostles, but already in a different spiritual reality. Magnificent to follow as its character has its own life, its like a concatenation of first plans one near the other.

In another memorable scene Otilia runs in the night to get rid of the aborted child. It's one of these long and cold nights into which Romania was plunged at these times because of electricity savings. She runs on the streets scared, scared not that much by the shades of the night but by the proof of the 'crime' she is carrying and which can incriminate her for many years of jail if she is caught. Best horror scene of the year in my view.

Anamaria Marinca is superb in the role of Otilia. No mannerism, no melodrama, no make-up - the actress is just living the character of a girl ready to sacrifice everything to help her naive and maybe a little dumb friend. It is by this humanity of the simple people that dictatorship can be survived at the human level the film seems to say.

'4-3-2' is a candidate for the best foreign film at the Oscars, but I am afraid it will not get the prize. The film starts slowly and needs patience to get the sense, and many jurors may not get over the first third. The interest for East-European cinema is decreasing, it's not such a new thing any longer, and Romanian cinema is little known out of Europe. Anyway, Oscar or not, this film is simply good, and it demonstrates that the Romanian cinema passed the period of transition and it's time for maturity. It's now even harder, as Romanian directors will need to find the inspiration to make films that do not look that much into the past but still can catch the interest of the local and international audiences. It will be interesting to follow.

Excellent, engrossing movie. Shot, as far as I could tell, with one skillfully deployed camera, every composition had to have that camera perfectly placed. It's no mean achievement to have risen to this challenge so well. There's one scene in particular, set at a birthday dinner, which is breathtakingly well done with the camera static and the actors brilliantly positioned around it, managing in spite of this limitation to not only give all the necessary information, but also to do so with the maximum emotional intensity.

The subject matter doesn't make for comfortable viewing. But it is essential to engage with it. This film tackles it head on. Don't miss it.

I was fortunate to see this film during the TIFF last week. With Palm d'Or behind the title, my expectation was high and I was amazingly satisfied.

As an audience in TIFF, we also got to have a Q&A session with Cristian, the director and it was apparent to me that he is a very intelligent man. Everything that was in the movie was well thought and planned. There is no accidents about this movie.

There are quite a few unclear scenes. However after, the director answered a few questions for the audience and I got to understand his point of view. It was clear to me what he was trying to show us. There is no wasted scenes or filler during the whole show.

There is a particular scene where many don't understand why it is so long and meaningless. Many viewers got frustrated, irritated and restless after a while. But that is exactly what the director wants us to feel. He plays with his audience through his film. What a brilliant idea ! For those who has seen it, will understand. Your feeling is exactly what Otilia was feelings.

This is not an anti-abortion movie as the director said. There is no political statement. It is just a daily life of a few Romanians during the period and you can feel it through this movie.

For all other foreign film fan, this is an absolute must see for this year.

The story is a very simple one. It's 1987 in Romania and abortion is illegal. Pregnant student Gabita and her roommate Otilia check into a cheap hotel where a backstreet abortionist called Bebe is going to deal with Gabita's problem. Under Romanian law, the degree of illegality depends on how long Gabita has been pregnant: on this subject, as on most others, she is worryingly vague. Very cleverly, the writer makes Otilia, the more resourceful of the girls, the protagonist. Otilia needs all her courage to deal with the suspicious hotel staff, to meet Bebe's demands, to evade the police and jail. The obvious words to use are spare, direct, realistic. The suspense generated is astonishing. The question of whether abortion is right or wrong is irrelevant to the psychology of the film - all that matters is that it is dangerous. I have great sympathy for all those Romanians who have written comments on this site, complaining about the portrayal of their beloved country. However, I believe that this film reflects well on Romania today. It's certainly a much more sophisticated and honest film than Vera Drake, which was hideously sentimental.

"Once we start, there's no turning back."

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is a Romanian film directed by Cristian Mungiu which won the Palm D'Or in the Cannes Film Festival in 2007 confirming the resurgence of the New Wave of Romanian Cinema. Other Romanian films that have been a part of this movement include 12:08 East of Bucharest, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, and Tales from the Golden Age. I'm on the minority here when I say that I didn't enjoy this film because the film has won several important awards and has been considered a masterpiece by most critics. As much as I wanted to enjoy this film, I have to be honest and say I felt it was a dull and boring movie. I tend to enjoy these character driven dramas, but I really never felt connected with the characters here and never felt the suspense that most people felt when they watched this. There were a few enjoyable moments and some strong performances, but the plot was simple and I never was drawn into the story. Despite the great camera work and the excellent craft, I never was attracted to this film or cared for the resolution. I'm sure it depicts perfectly the era when Romania was under Ceausescu's communist regime, but having seen so many foreign films focusing on social issues I didn't think there was anything special that stood out here, but I'm probably wrong because everyone else seemed to have loved this film.

The film takes place during the final years of Ceausescu's communist regime in Rumania and it centers on a college student named Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) as she begins to make plans in order to help her roommate, Gabita (Laura Vasliu), have an abortion. We don't really find out about the abortion until 30 minutes into the film, but the trailers take away the suspense. The communist regime doesn't allow birth control nor abortion, so they have to do things quietly and secretly. Otilia arranges to book a reservation at a hotel and picks up a doctor who has offered his service, although it won't be free and it will cost them a little more than money. His name is Bebe (Vlad Ivanov) and he takes advantage of Gabita's desperation to have the abortion and her friend's willingness to help. Everything has to be done quietly in the hotel room because if they are caught they can end up in jail, but Otilia also has to deal with her boyfriend Adi (Alex Potocean) as she has promised to visit him for his mom's birthday. There are a lot of things at stake here, but Otilia is determined to help out her friend.

One of the main issues I had with the film was that I never believed the friendship between Otilia and Gabita was strong enough for her to go through such extreme measures in order to help her. They seemed pretty distant and I never understood why she was willing to help. I have my theories, but the film is purposefully ambiguous. It is slow paced and nothing really happens. I don't have an issue with this because in films like A Separation it still worked for me because I connected with the characters. Mungiu portrays the era really well and never takes sides on the pro abortion or pro life issue, rather focusing on the dangers of the oppressive regime. It is a very realistic and dark film and Marinca gives a strong performance as the lead character. The best part of the film however was the scene where Ivanov's character manipulates the girls in the hotel room. He was great in that scene. I'm disappointed that I never got to appreciate the film as much as everyone else did, but there is no denying that Mungiu directed a memorable film.

Usually, movies are about entertainment, or about art, or simply they just have something to say. This is exactly the case with "4,3,2". Going beyond exceptional cinematography, this is a movie about serious problems, in a serious approach. It's about those extraordinary events in our every day life. The cast and all the effort put into making it add up to the success of presenting a story about real life with fictional means. It's not a movie about women, nor about men, it doesn't concern only women, or only men, it's about struggle and sacrifice, without being pathetic or exaggerated. You, or me, or the one next to you, could face the same problems and we each deal with them in our own way. The winning point of the film is that it's not judgemental about these choices, but only alarming, or purely descriptive.

Great acting, great directing, great filming, great writing and a great story make this film well worthy of those Palmes D'Or. It's a great achievement for cinematography in general, not only the Romanian one in particular. But for a more detailed perspective, just go see the movie!

Winner of last years Palme d'Or this Romanian film set in the eighties and is a cross between Richard Linklater's 2001 film 'Tape', in that the majority of the action takes place in one room between three central characters and Mike Leigh's 2004 film 'Vera Drake' in that its central theme is illegal abortion. It is a film about the human condition, trust, betrayal, the extremes people have to go to sometimes and the consequences that follow certain actions. It has two great performances from the college roommates Otilia and Gabita from their introduction to us as they make plans for a trip through to the grizzly outcome that concludes the film. The setting is grim and the bleached out film stock adds to the jittery camera work and gives an uneasy feeling throughout, instantly you are transported to a time where people barter with tic tacs, cigarettes and powdered milk and the promise of sugar is a dream to many and a reality to only a few. Gabita's predicament and subsequent journey both physically and mentally are what drives the film but its shown mainly through the eyes of her friend and roommate Otilia who as well as making and carrying out the arrangements has to make some startling sacrifices and ones that she will have memory of forever, as will you the audience long after the film has finished. Although not an easy watch and considering the subject matter not something you can say you 'enjoyed' it is none the less a brilliant piece of film-making, subtle and emotive with very real character studies. A brutal in your face look at a bleak time in history, how a leader destroyed the economy of a country and what that did to everyday life and a reminder of how far behind the rest of us Eastern Europe was before the fall of the Iron curtain and particularly Romania before the Revolution of 1989.

Chritian Mungiu delivers one of the finer suspense films in the past few years. Set in Ceausescu's grim murderous police state, I was reminded of Polanski's shocker "Repulsion" albeit without the Gothic thrills. It's a loaded subject matter of abortion that sets the scene, but we aren't asked to take sides in someones polemic. The nightmare that unfolds is probably played out often, and that's the movie's genius. We identify quickly with the dilemma even though the bureaucratic maze the characters have to bribe and finagle there way through is in extreme.

The smallest details are accurate and riveting, from the possibly dire consequences of not paying a bus fare to eavesdropping on a conversation between a mother and her son that's suddenly interrupted by the sound of gun shot, the protagonist here (and what a courageous beauty she turns out to be) has nerves of steel that any action hero would envy.

It's our loss that this may be the only time we get to see Anamarie Marinca perform. She's nearly in every shot in the film and her unsteady conviction to her friend who is seeking an abortion is mesmerizing to watch. Her foil, Laura Vasiliu, is maddeningly dense and just as effective as the girl who's so lost in her dilemma that you can't tell if her judgment is impaired by her predicament or she's simple-minded. It's a touching performance that's also infuriating because of the dangers she sets in motion all around her.

The mise en scene here is one of a master. Midway through the film, there's a stunning set piece where Marinca and her boyfriend are full screen at a party, the camera never moves and they don't speak a word while adults chatter all around them while only occasionally hands enter the frame. The tension that results is almost unbearable when a telephone rings off in the distance, and Marinca is unable to move to find out if it's a desperate call for help...or simply someone calling to wish Happy Birthday.

There are many, many such fine moments in this movie. It shows that horror isn't necessarily the boogie man or a creature from outer space. It can be of our own making, both individually and by the government that rules us.

One of the most critically acclaimed movies of the last decade is also one of the most overrated. Even though it has great cinematography and performances, the elongated sequences are dreadful and the movie requires a change of pace to be considered the great movie that so many critics praised it was. The movie deals with two friends, Otilia (Anamaria Manrica) and Gabi (Laura Vasiliu), as they decide to have an illegal abortion in Rumania during the 1980s. Nothing goes as planned and the two girls have to take things into their own measures to gather the money to pay Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov, the abortionist). The man playing Mr. Bebe is one of the most terrifying men on screen, he is subtle about his endeavours as anyone can ever wish to be, but as soon as his mask falls down we see a very evil and angry human soul, who does not care about anyone in any way possible. When he screams at Otilia at one point, the yelling penetrated me even if I had no idea what he was saying. We feel remorse for any pity we might have had of him at any point during the movie, because he is truly the personification of a self-centred arrogant man.

My main problem with the film is the pacing of it, which is also the movie's way of expressing its message. The shots are supposed to simulate real life, and the film had very extended tracking shots and long moments when nothing happens, we just see the actors. And this makes a lot of sense, and has worked in films like Elephant, and L'infant, but the lack of action in this particular film gets pretty boring. In Elephant at least the climatic scene shocks us because of its violence. Yet, by boring us, the director of 4 weeks is stating something to us. We expect something to happen, yet most of the interesting plot points happen off screen. We see the aftermath of the events, and the impact this had on the characters in the film, and realize that the actions themselves were not bad or good, it is how they took it and WHY they happened that really shook their souls. We are supposed to see the pain in their faces and realize how horrific this has been, and I perfectly well understand that, but it just got boring. The movie was very anti-climatic, and in a sense it leaves you with the sense of wanting more, of missing something by not viewing what you expect to see from a movie: the fighting, the sex scenes and the complete downfall of the person which eventually leads to maturation and evolution. I don't doubt for a second this is what the director intended: by not showing us the "climatic" scenes, he is stating a metaphor for how people in Rumania (and maybe even across the globe) have turned their back to traumatizing events, and pretended they didn't happen to just move on and go on with their life. The movie is great because it symbolizes something more: it is a movie about how we choose to forget the trauma in our lives, and yet, we never do Even if we pretend to forget what happened and not talk about it, there is still a giant white elephant in the room that changes who we are, and how we interact. By elongated long shots and tracking shots, the director is showing us life as it really is, brutal and for the most part, boring. Most people don't evolve and grow from their traumatizing events, they just pretend to forget about it, and there is a feeling of unsolved issues when they interact with people and also in us when we finish seeing the movie.

That doesn't make the movie less boring though. I can call the movie a great metaphor for condolences and worldwide neglect of violence, but in the end, that won't make the movie less boring. It may be because we are the YouTube generation and we expect the scenes to be 15 seconds long, or we expect most scenes that occur on screen to be either amusing or reveal something major of the character – and this film doesn't deliver any of that, it simply has scenes as life, because that's how life is. It's like if you followed a woman for two hours. You would get pretty bored no? Maybe not if you're a stalker, but if you're normal, probably yes. This is like the real world Rumania without editing. Of course, this is not like Russian Ark where it is just one 90 minute shot, but there are a lot of shots when nothing happens and you're just waiting. And waiting. I guess I'm not that kind of person that simply likes to watch a movie for its cinematography or acting. Maybe that means I can't concentrate as well as some people, but I like to watch stories, and stories with a lot of content for that matter.

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This is a movie from the highest rated young Romanian director who won highest appreciation from the Cannes festival (Golden Palm) in 2007. It's a movie that will make you feel like a human being again and after seeing it you will surely think much better about Romanian cinematography. The movie is a drama of a human being that is oppressed by the communist regime in Romania, one of the most criminal regimes of this century.In the last years of the Romanian communism, the dictator's wife "Elena Ceausescu" made it clear for everyone that abortion is no longer permitted and that had a lot of implications later on. Although the movie is not about the regime itself but about the character and her personal drama. 4 Months 3 Weeks & 2 Days is supposedly the beginning of a series of films Mungiu is hoping to make called The Golden Age, each about life in Communist Romania. I hope he's successful; if this film is an example of the kind of rough-hew humanity and blunt realism we can expect in future films, I'd definitely seek them out. As it is, 4 Months 3 Weeks & 2 Days moved me and challenged me, made me feel and made me think, demonstrated the personal and political challenges of a heartbreaking choice that, in many ways, is no choice at all-- and that's a rare enough achievement, and one worthy of seeking out.This movie is a work of art

Much hyped winner of Cannes, and center of a firestorm concerning the wonky way the Oscars pick their foreign language nominees, this film was carrying a great deal of baggage with it when I sat down to watch it on IFC in Theaters on demand service on cable.

The story of the film is simple, two young women, one of whom is pregnant, go to a hotel to get an abortion.Its 1980's Romania and abortion is simply not done. The film looks at the plight of the women, their place in Romanian society as well as the relationship of the two friends.

To be honest the hype surrounding the film did affect my view of the film. I did go into the film with the attitude "Okay hit me with the best film of the year". I came out liking the film but not loving it. Certainly I don't think its the best film of the year. I don't know if I would put near the top of the heap either. Don't get me wrong, its not a bad film, I just didn't connect to it the way that audiences and critics have around the world.

Told in a long takes, often with long silences this is a film that puts you there in the hotel with these women. We are a silent conspirator of sorts to the events that transpire. The effect is to draw us into things in a way that might not otherwise be possible. Tension is generated because things happen in "real" time. There are no cutaways just us and the ladies on screen.

I do like the film and think it is very good. I just never fully connected to it. Partly I know that I am a man and the pain and uncomfortable nature of the situation that would be present had I been a woman isn't there.Had I been a woman I'm guessing this film would have been devastating to sit through I am also largely ignorant of the social situation of the "classless" Romania. I can intellectualize what its like but I never fully connect to it. For what ever reason it is outside my realm of understanding.

There is one other possible problem with the film not effecting me, and that is I was accidentally told something about the end of the film that allowed me to almost know too much going in. In a weird way, between the accidental slip of the tongue and a few pieces on the film, I felt as though I was seeing it for a second time. It is possible to know too much about the film since had I not heard and seen things my attitude would have been different.

Definitely worth seeing. Its very good but not the be all and end all.

7.5 out of 10

I have read many reviews about this particular movie but I had the chance to watch it only yesterday. Since I am a citizen of a neighboring ex-communist country - Bulgaria - I am well familiar with the essence of the communist regimes at the end of their existence. The were not so cruel like in the 50-s and the 60-s, it was more a farce than a real, normal life and society. Everybody, except the old "loyal" and thickheaded communists, had lost their faith in the "bright future" long ago, but also everybody pretended to be loyal to the party-state for pure selfish reasons. It is shown very well in the movie where, in this "the best of all possible societies", the ordinary people make their shopping mainly at the black market, where they have to do a simple medical procedure illegally, and at the cost of fear and humiliation. This atmosphere becomes grimmer with the dirty streets and the old jalopies, with the rude receptionists and the corrupt people all over the city, with the stupid indifference of the boy's parents and their friends - the so called "elite" in this eliteless society.

I am sure the movie will not be properly understood by the citizens of the free countries who had only heard about communism but had never experienced it. Nevertheless it is worth seeing and I am very glad that such films, together with "The Lives of Others" (Das Leben Der Anderen), have won prestige international awards.

Yes, in deed, in communist Romania abortion was illegal. People got arrested for that and sentenced to jail. That's was already portrayed in the documentary "Nascuti la comanda. Decreteii" (2005 - Children of the Decree) not very good as well but this is another story. Back to our movie … I shall illustrate my opinion with a story from childhood. I was born in 1980 in Romania and at the time the action of the movie takes place I was 7. About that age I remember an episode that stayed in my mind. My parents took me and my sister shopping in a kind of a mall ("Big" called actually at that time). As we were waiting I remember I looked into the window of a shop and I saw some little things called "prezervative" (condoms). I remember I stayed a few minutes in front of that window trying to read the word and memorize it. After that I asked my mother what that meant and she said ask your father, he knows better. He avoided the subject. So, my point is: at that time there were contraceptive methods available in shops so even children could have bought them but there was no education in that sense. The movie presents us fragments of reality and puts the whole blame on the fact that abortion was illegal. But who stopped the young students from that time to buy and use condoms? And what's was the problem after all of having a child? The blame can't be only on the regime, on the whole society, but rather on each case. Some people died for their beliefs and other just accepted what they were told. Who's to blame? As for the way in witch movie is constructed I could not notice the "thriller" in the end when Otilia tries to hide the baby. This part is in contrast with much of the movie and obviously exaggerated maybe to satisfy an American audience. In my opinion, the only valuable part in the movie is that of the conversation between Adi Radu and Otilia regarding what would they do in case of an unwanted pregnancy. This moment alone has universal value because it speaks about human problems all over the world and in every time and society. It is the question of trust, of responsibility in a relationship as well as in life.