4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile / 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)

It's taken me less than 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days to see another Romanian movie, after The Death of Mr Lazarescu, and on the basis of these two movies, I'd happily watch another from that country again soon. 'Happily' however, is not a word I would associate with this film about an abortion in Communist Romania. Depicting one day in the lives of Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) and Gabita (Laura Vasiliu), as the uni room-mates check into a hotel and contact a black-market abortionist to terminate Gabita's pregnancy, the movie naturally has none of Mr. Lazarescu's good humour, and is thankfully shorter - thankfully because this is an emotionally draining film.

Told with understated drama and emotion, the two young actresses at the middle of the movie are astonishing, particuarly Marinca, whose Otilia we follow throughout as she books the hotel room, meets the abortionist, grudgingly agrees to his method of payment (sex), and then leaves her prone friend, with probe implanted and awaiting... well, the endgame, to attend her boyfriend's parents' party. The camera never returns to Gabita until Otilia does, so I was on the edge of my seat to find out what had happened to her - she wasn't answering the phone! Had there been complications? Had she died? Had the hotel staff found her and called the police? It was more gripping than several thrillers I've seen, and yet all was played with such realism and despair... When Otilia found Gabita safe and well, and then found that the aborted fetus (it's a bit distressing to type those two words for some reason - I'm not anti-abortion, but this movie would certainly put you off the backstreet variety) on the bathroom floor... it's hard to describe how good the drama is without sounding heartless. I've not seen a movie as powerful as this for a while - it goes to show that even such controversial subject matter can produce a rivetting film, in the right hands.