You can imagine the high priest of bureaucratic cynicism himself, Franz Kafka, watching this film about a Christian-Conservative couple being put through the meat grinder of the Norwegian Child Services system and saying, .“No, guys, it’s too big.” Romanian New Wave lynchpin Cristian Mungiu returns with a big, beautiful bombshell The Fjorda film that seems to show that the usually fast-paced and brilliant filmmaker has found his mojo and made a horror story about the blatant oppression of the high government in the Scandinavian countryside that it could play as the less exciting part of the popular anti-weed double bill. The PSAReefer Madness.
Mihai and Lisbet Gheorghiu (Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve) live a happy, low-key life with their five children (two teenagers, two young children and a newborn) on a rocky Norwegian beach. He’s from Romania, he’s Norwegian, and they both fit into what appears to be an unusual Christian seam, though he counts many other worshipers within walking distance. Both parents are on the same page when it comes to the difficulties of how they choose to raise their children, emphasizing work, prayer and meditation, and stressing on many things that young people would classify as fun. If the behavior is smooth, a short, sharp slap on the butt is not out of the question.
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When one of the children’s gym teachers notices bruises on the eldest daughter Elia (Vanessa Ceban), the Children’s Services team is brought into the air, and the best way to describe lead agent Gunda (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) is to imagine the Great Witch in a high street trouser suit. Rather than resolve the situation and hold the audience to the truth about Gheorghiu’s supposed transgressions, Mungiu instead wades into this moral dilemma by assuring us that our two humble subjects have done nothing to deserve the prison sentence that ends up hanging over them. Of course we are just here to see them suffer.
There is precious little in this absurd film that can be taken seriously, from the idle children, who for reasons that are not clear, can never be given the basis to direct the record, to Gunda, who will not be happy until he sees Gheorghiu sleeping – strong resentments are given no context or credibility. It’s the kind of movie you’d think Mungiu would depend on, .“well, I did my research and it really is!” defense, but that doesn’t matter if his film forces you to quickly evaluate every dramatic decision in it with even a scintilla of practical authenticity.
Stan and Reinsve bring twisted, emotionally neutral performances to a film that calls for more fire, more anger, more parenting power. The storm you think they’d kick when suddenly their five children are taken from their care is like a gentle spring shower. Like, you do search your children back? Meanwhile, there is the strange character of Noora (Henrikke Lund-Olsen) a poor neighbor’s daughter who develops a relationship with Elia that is not based on anything at all. Watching this film, you are left wondering what Norway did to Mungiu to inform this mysterious dispersal, and whether he will be allowed to return to the country to promote his release.
