Transylvania

Transylvania (2006)

** (out of 4)

Strange French film has Asia Argento playing a pregnant woman who travels to Romania to locate her lover. When she finds him he turns his back on her so she sets off to discover herself and eventually gets caught up in the country's Gypsy culture. There's been a large storm of controversy over how the country is made to look in this film but I have no opinions on that since I know very little about the country. As for the film, it's a pretty boring affair due in large part to the character Argento plays. Argento delivers a good performance here and really hits some raw energy but her character is so ugly that I had a hard time caring what happened to her. Seeing a pregnant woman constantly throwing down vodka took away some of my feelings for her and although her character is suppose to be going through a hard time it hit me as a crazy woman. Another problem with the film is that it seems to have been written as it went along as there's never a clear path as to what type of film its trying to be. To say the film is uneven might be an understatement. The strangest scene in the movie has to be where Argento's character is in a white robe and gets a milk bath as some sort of ritual. This offers a tad bit of nudity from the actress and this here is certainly the only energy the film has going for it. The actress also offers a look at her rather amazing tattoo on her stomach.

There has been a lot of criticism of this film based upon it's name. I do not believe that writer/director Tony Gatlif was trying to make a documentary, but just using the locale to tell a strange story of an Italian girl (Asis Argento) who is consumed by the gypsy culture when she loses her lover.

It is a strange mix of music, much of it composed and arranged by Gatlif, some religious customs (exorcism) and a lot of gypsy culture that was fascinating for the costumes and the joy of living that was expressed.

I would not even attempt to try and express a message from this film. Everyone who watches it would come out with something different. It is a different type of movie; somewhat akin to observing a painting and trying to guess the artists intent.

Check it out for Argento's fantastic performance, as well as that of Birol Ünel.

Tony Gatlif is a French director of partial Romani descent. I understand that a lot of his movies focus on the Roma (often mistakenly called gypsies, which is actually a derogatory term). "Transylvania" is the first movie of his that I've seen.

While the title might imply that it's a Dracula adaptation, it has nothing to do with vampires. The protagonist is an Italian woman (Asia Argento of "XXX") who goes to Romania in search of her boyfriend, having a somewhat gritty experience in the process.

I've never been to Romania, and I don't know any people of Romani descent, so I can't comment on the movie's accuracy. What I can say is that it's interesting to see a movie about a culture that we don't often get to see. A lot of the music sounds like Johannes Brahms's Hungarian Dance (to which Charlie Chaplin shaved a man in a scene from "The Great Dictator"). It's not any kind of great movie, but it's one of the few movies focusing on the Roma, so it's got that going for it.

come form Transilvania and I lived there as a Hungarian ethnic minority. I watched this film in Budapest, and I liked it very much. Still, some of my Transilvanian friends told me that they are embarrassed to tell other people about this movie, because it shows only the "bad" things about Transilvania, and foreigners will think that this country is full of gypsies and poor people. Well, I don't have this problem. Gypsies do exist in Romania. And anyway, this film is not a documentary. It is a subjective movie, using Transilvanian images, music, impressions. It shows mostly gypsies,yes, but hey, the story IS about gypsies. This film might contain mistakes (for example, they showed Romanians from the Maramures region dancing on a street festival together with Hungarian women wearing costumes from a completely different region). But this doesn't matter! Of course not everybody is gypsy and poor in Translivania. But who would pay to watch a documentary called: FACTS ABOUT TRANSILVANIA?? It gives a general impression, which is not that bad at all. Those who think this country is only miserable, will think this anyway. I was singing loudly the Hungarian, Romanian and gypsy tunes in the cinema, and I was proud to show that I know these songs. It also gave me this mystical feeling of my home country, which I will never lose. People are not better or worse there , but they are different, and I like it. If the film raises curiosities and debates, foreigners will visit the country, and they can make their own opinions. Maybe they won't find witches and magic, but they will definitely sense a special feeling. And for that this film was an excellent means.

Zingarina (Asia Argento), who is two-month pregnant, travels from France to Transylvania with her friend Marie (Amira Casar) to seek out her lover Milan Agustin (Marco Castoldi) that was deported from France. They hire the guide and interpreter Luminitsa (Alexandra Beaujard) to help them to find the musician Milan. When she finds him, she is rejected and Milan tells that he was not deported, but left her.

Zingarina has a breakdown and leaves Marie on the road, wandering with a street boy. Soon she meets the traveling trader Tchangalo (Birol Ünel) and she joins him in a road travel without destiny.

"Transylvania" is a pretentious, boring, senseless and pointless love story. Pretentious since it is spoken in several languages without coherency with the character's nationality and has a cheap surrealism. Boring since there is no story or character development, only a storyline filled with music, giving the sensation that in Transylvania there are only vampires and music (sorry for the joke). Senseless since nothing makes sense in this movie. Pointless since there is no message and no nothing but a senseless love story. The good thing is the cast that is excellent, especially for me since I am fan of Asia Argento. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Transilvânia" ("Transylvania")