(Romania/France/Belgium, 150 min.)
Written and directed by Cristian Mungiu
Starring: Cosmina Stratan, Cristina Flutur, Valeriu
Andriuta, Dana Tapalaga.
Cristian Mungiu’s 4
Months, 3 Weeks, & 2 Days premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in
2007, causing a well-deserved chorus of critical praise that continued long
after it won the coveted Palme d’Or. 4
Months is a daring film in both style and substance. It provoked the sense
of discovery one always hopes to find on the festival circuit and it led many
critics to look closer at Romanian cinema as one of the most exciting new film
producers in Europe. Beyond the Hills, Romania's recent Oscar submission and Mungiu’s third feature as a solo
director (he collaborated on 2009’s Tales
from the Golden Age), unfortunately fails to meet the exceedingly high
expectations set by its predecessor.
It’s a “festival film” to a near-comic degree. Few films
offer subtitles, excessive long takes, lesbian nuns, and an exorcism all for
the price of one admission. Beyond the
Hills even ends with a prototypically art-house final shot—a long take, of
course—that plays both as an ambiguous puzzler and as a flagrant middle finger
to the camera depending on how one wants to read the film. Both interpretations
seem compatible.
There’s no denying the immaculate craftsmanship to Mungiu’s
compositions, nor to his eye for symbolism and to his skill in crafting
intriguing female characters. Beyond the
Hills, however, is an arduous struggle to appreciate. There’s a lot to
admire in the film and there’s also a lot to hate.
The key to this love/hate relationship lies in Mungiu’s
fondness for long takes. Virtually every shot in the film holds for several
minutes. Jean Valjean could sing at least a song and an overture here without a
single break. Similar to Les Misérables,
Beyond the Hills features vary little
variation in shot length. Tom Hooper likes the close-up, while Mungiu shoots
nearly every scene in medium shot. The camera rarely moves in Beyond the Hills so the static imagery makes
this story of distant lovers Volchita (Cosmina Stratan) and Alina (Cristina
Flutur) feel painfully stale. When the camera does move, though, it’s a potent
breath of life.
The performances by Stratan and Flutur are equally measured
and controlled. Both actresses spend much of the film playing the same note.
The rare shifts in dramatic dynamic are as effective as they are tedious.
Stratan and Flutur, both making their feature film debut, shared the Best
Actress prize at Cannes for their subtle performances. The restraint is
noteworthy, but it’s hard to see how they topped the likes of Emmanuelle Riva
and Marion Cotillard. The subdued performances eventually add to the monotony of
the long takes.
The excess of familiar shots builds a slow introductory act
as Alina returns to Volchita, who has now become a nun and pledged her love to
Christ. Alina seems possessed by a desire to remove her friend from the nunnery
and Mungiu makes us watch from a fixed distance as she observes Volchita’s
rituals in the church, including her master/servant relationship with the
priest (Valeriu Andriuta) whom she calls “Papa”. From Alina’s perspective, her
lifelong friend seems like a recruit within a cult.
A distance grows between the friends during the second act
when an unseen incident between Alina and Papa perverts the energy in the
monastery. More long takes ensue as Papa advises the nuns that their visitor is
possessed by Evil. Contemporary science butts heads with ultra-orthodox rituals
and Papa asks the sisters, Volchita included, to turn to faith so that they may
rid the girl of her wickedness.
The measured build-up to the exorcism is bound to make or break
one’s faith in Mungiu’s stylistic choices. Beyond
the Hills is a relentlessly slow film. Painful even. I’ll admit that there
was a moment slightly after the one-hour mark where I considered walking out. I’m
glad I stayed, however, because although Beyond
the Hills plods for an excruciatingly slow first hour and a half, the film
pulls a stunner in its final hour by capitalizing upon the taxing stasis of the
preceding ninety minutes.
It’s only in the final act that Mungiu invests some energy
into the film. The final hour of Beyond
the Hills is a phenomenal deconstruction of the monastery’s rituals. Framed
primarily through Volchita’s crumbling psychology, Beyond the Hills is fascinatingly provocative. It doesn’t deliver
an all-out condemnation of the church, however, as the most rewarding reading
of the film’s final moments hinge on an act of faith. Even if it never comes
anywhere close to the greatness of 4,
Months, 3 Weeks, & 2 Days, Beyond the Hills is, for better or for worse, an undeniable work
of art.
Rating: ★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Beyond the Hills is currently playing in Toronto at TIFF BellLightbox.
It opens in Ottawa at The ByTowne in June 7.
