The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005)
(Moartea domnului Lazarescu)
Country: ROM
Technical: col 150m
Director: Cristi Puiu
Cast: Ion Fiscuteanu, Luminita Gheorghiu, Doru Ana
Synopsis:
A Bucharest widower experiences headaches and vomiting and calls for an ambulance. Over the next five hours he is examined at home and at four successive hospitals, as he is treated with contempt for his evident drinking and sidelined because of a serious road traffic accident.
Review:
Filmed to resemble real time, this blackly comic exploration of different attitudes to human pathology gradually gathers momentum over its substantial length. From an initial response focusing on the deathlike pace, dimly lit settings and handheld midshots, the viewer arrives at an 'all humanity is here' appreciation of one human being's undignified journey towards death (which is not in fact part of the film, title notwithstanding). He also becomes uncomfortably aware of his own impotent voyeurism. As the writer-director exposed with relish the casual misogyny of Lazarescu's neighbour, the condescension of his carers, the self-importance of the doctors, the humanity of the paramedic who accompanies him on his ordeal if only to get her form stamped, and threw in some Christian symbolism to boot, the world suddenly became aware of a national cinema which for the next few years showed it could produce masterworks with the humblest of means. (The film began as an experiment in completing a project out of non-existent financial resources.)
(Moartea domnului Lazarescu)
Country: ROM
Technical: col 150m
Director: Cristi Puiu
Cast: Ion Fiscuteanu, Luminita Gheorghiu, Doru Ana
Synopsis:
A Bucharest widower experiences headaches and vomiting and calls for an ambulance. Over the next five hours he is examined at home and at four successive hospitals, as he is treated with contempt for his evident drinking and sidelined because of a serious road traffic accident.
Review:
Filmed to resemble real time, this blackly comic exploration of different attitudes to human pathology gradually gathers momentum over its substantial length. From an initial response focusing on the deathlike pace, dimly lit settings and handheld midshots, the viewer arrives at an 'all humanity is here' appreciation of one human being's undignified journey towards death (which is not in fact part of the film, title notwithstanding). He also becomes uncomfortably aware of his own impotent voyeurism. As the writer-director exposed with relish the casual misogyny of Lazarescu's neighbour, the condescension of his carers, the self-importance of the doctors, the humanity of the paramedic who accompanies him on his ordeal if only to get her form stamped, and threw in some Christian symbolism to boot, the world suddenly became aware of a national cinema which for the next few years showed it could produce masterworks with the humblest of means. (The film began as an experiment in completing a project out of non-existent financial resources.)
(Moartea domnului Lazarescu)
Country: ROM
Technical: col 150m
Director: Cristi Puiu
Cast: Ion Fiscuteanu, Luminita Gheorghiu, Doru Ana
Synopsis:
A Bucharest widower experiences headaches and vomiting and calls for an ambulance. Over the next five hours he is examined at home and at four successive hospitals, as he is treated with contempt for his evident drinking and sidelined because of a serious road traffic accident.
Review:
Filmed to resemble real time, this blackly comic exploration of different attitudes to human pathology gradually gathers momentum over its substantial length. From an initial response focusing on the deathlike pace, dimly lit settings and handheld midshots, the viewer arrives at an 'all humanity is here' appreciation of one human being's undignified journey towards death (which is not in fact part of the film, title notwithstanding). He also becomes uncomfortably aware of his own impotent voyeurism. As the writer-director exposed with relish the casual misogyny of Lazarescu's neighbour, the condescension of his carers, the self-importance of the doctors, the humanity of the paramedic who accompanies him on his ordeal if only to get her form stamped, and threw in some Christian symbolism to boot, the world suddenly became aware of a national cinema which for the next few years showed it could produce masterworks with the humblest of means. (The film began as an experiment in completing a project out of non-existent financial resources.)