4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
2007

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

★ 7.9 / 10
IMDb
Directed by Cristian Mungiu
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Synopsis

Set in 1980s Communist Romania, the film follows Otilia, a devoted friend who helps her roommate Găbița arrange an illegal abortion at great personal risk. Director Cristian Mungiu crafts a tense, unflinching portrait of life under totalitarianism, exploring themes of friendship, sacrifice, and female solidarity. The film's raw realism and long, unbroken takes create an almost unbearable sense of dread and moral complexity.

Did You Know?
  • Won the Palme d'Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
  • Director Cristian Mungiu wrote the script based on urban legends.
  • The entire film was shot in chronological order.
  • Romania did not submit it for the Academy Awards consideration.
  • The film uses no background music whatsoever throughout its runtime.
Iconic Quotes
  • What kind of a mess have you gotten yourself into?
  • You don't make decisions like this for other people.
  • We never talk about this again. To anyone. Ever.
  • Why didn't you tell me from the beginning how things stood?
  • Some things you just have to go through alone.
Editorial

Why Eltorama recommends this film

Mungiu turns one bleak day in Ceaușescu's Romania into a study of fear so precise it stops your breath.
Appears in  Slow Burn Cinema →
Cristian Mungiu's Romanian abortion drama refuses score, refuses cuts, refuses relief. The eight-minute dinner-table scene is a masterclass in how stillness becomes terror.
Mungiu's real-time abortion drama is Romanian New Wave at its most unsparing — a single desperate day filmed with clinical, unbearable calm.
Cristian Mungiu films a Romanian abortion as eight-minute dinner-table scenes. The film is the gem that became Romanian New Wave's manifesto.