4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile)

7.5/10. A worthy (Rumanian) winner of the Palme D’or at Cannes. This film records with washed out hues and hand-held cinema verite style camerawork the travails of two students on the day that one of them is to obtain an illegal abortion in 1987 Rumania. Compelling throughout, with powerful central performances, this isn’t exactly an easy film to watch at the best of times – quite apart from the subject matter the behaviour of most of the ‘peripheral’ characters, from desk clerks to the abortionist, varies from the unhelpful to the downright unpleasant. The final shot (again beautifully composed), situates the two friends in an isolated restaurant late at night, the scene perfectly echoing their emotional isolation and exhaustion (“Let’s never talk about this again” says one, in the final line of the film).