Enescu, l'écorché vif

Toma Enache's Enescu, Skinned Alive is a poetic and tender portrait of Romania's greatest composer. Blending historical accuracy with emotional depth, it explores George Enescu's genius and his complex love for Princess Maruca Cantacuzino-his muse, his joy, and his source of turmoil. Beautifully acted and refined, it transforms the suffering of a genius into cinematic poetry. A profound experience for those who seek cultural and aesthetic depth.

The director of movie brilliantly illustrates the love story between George Enescu, a huge composer of last century, and controversial and passionate princess, Maruca Cantacuzino ,born in Romania .The kindness of this great composer and his emotional state increase the princess confidence that they pass together with "magna cum laude" over love pressures and their efforts will eventually turn into achievements, scattered on their life as well precious ring mount of diamond . Enescu seems to be like a fisherman in the boat who paddles up on the smooth or rough sea. It says that a big slice of "success cake"" of love is on each plate of partners, although. The main characters perform into glamorous ways, all the loose ends are finally tie up in their love.

This film is a disgrace. A grim, disconnected mess that claims to be about George Enescu, yet does everything possible to strip him of his brilliance, dignity, and relevance. The actors deliver wooden, lifeless performances - often mumbling their lines to the point where entire scenes become unintelligible. The transitions between scenes are abrupt and nonsensical, like a bad fever dream stitched together without care or narrative logic.

Instead of exploring the genius of Enescu - his childhood talent, his connection with God and Romania, his obsession with music and family, his artistic madness while composing Oedipe for 20 years (nothing is said about how Enescu gave Oedipe a different ending, a new philosophical alure - unlike the ancient tragedies, he offered transcendence, not ruin), more thoughts he expose in his connection with journalist Bernard Gavoty, - we get a grotesque focus on misery, scandal, and nudity. The film centers more on Maruca Cantacuzino and her affairs, thoughts from her journal than on the music or Enescu himself. No inspiration, no passion, no truth - just a slow, sinister mockery. A terrible and broken image of a man who deserved reverence, not ridicule.

What's even more astonishing is that this film was presented abroad and toured through Romania as if it were some kind of national statement. But this film doesn't celebrate Enescu - it desecrates his legacy. There is absolutely no justification for taking this grotesque version of a national treasure and parading it on international stages.

This could have been a tribute to a titan of music. Instead, it's a tone-deaf, shallow, and frankly insulting portrayal. A total failure made by Toma Enache.

A mockery dressed up as cinema. Shallow, cruel, and unforgivable.

I honestly think Elenescu Skinned Alive was terrible and didn't deserve any of the awards it got. I went in with high expectations because of all the hype, but it felt like a complete waste of time. The pacing was painfully slow, and the plot, if you can even call it that, was confusing and pretentious for no good reason. The characters were flat, and it seemed like the director was trying too hard to be "artistic" rather than telling a story that actually made sense. Half the time, I found myself checking the time, wondering when it would finally be over.

The cinematography was dark and shaky in a way that felt forced, and the dialogue was either too quiet to hear or so strange it was hard not to cringe. I didn't feel connected to any of the characters, and the film's attempts to shock the audience felt cheap rather than meaningful. I genuinely cannot understand how this film managed to win awards when it didn't deliver on basic storytelling, emotional connection, or even visual coherence.

Honestly, the best part of the entire experience was the comfortable seats I was sitting in, which at least made it bearable to sit through the mess unfolding on the screen. Other than that, I would not recommend this film to anyone, unless you're looking for an example of how a movie can fail while still pretending to be dee.

I saw this movie in a glamorous setting, at the Romanian Atheneum and I could tell from the get go that this was going to be bad. We've had a 40 mins introduction by a guy in a bow tie who asked the public for applause for like 7 or 8 times, for the brilliant acting, directing, screenwriting and so on and so forth. Everything needed to be applauded - at one point I thought we're going to honor the fact that we are still alive through this painful intro with a round of clapping.

The movie is atrocious: there is no narrative line, the characters lack any depth, the dialogue is grotesquely cliche, filled with pompous phares that have no meaning. We got out after 20 mins of projection. What a waste of time and money!