Synopsis
Twin Peaks with Dorel Vișan.
A Girl’s Tears is a Romanian drama film directed by Iosif Demian in 1980. It was screened at Cannes Film Festival, Un Certain Regard section, in 1982. It tells the story of a crime that changed the lives of the inhabitants of a Transylvanian village.
Director: Iosif Demian
Cast: Dorel Vișan, George Negoescu, Dragoș Pâslaru, Luiza Orosz, George Bosun, Horia Baciu, Costel Rădulescu
Screenplay: Petre Sălcudeanu
Producer: Casa de filme 5
Cinematography: Iosif Demian, Constantin Chelba
Sound: Vasile Luca
Editing by: Margareta Anescu
Year: 1980
Category: drama film
Genre: fiction
Duration: 83 minutes
40,512 – Cinepub viewers
PLOT SUMMARY
The discovery of a drowned young girl’s body makes the local authorities start an investigation.
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The film tells the story of a suspicious death investigation at Sălcioara, a village near the Mureş Valley. The Major and his help, Panaitescu, accompanied by a film crew that wants to record the case, manage to understand the circumstances in which young Ana Draga, an agronomist engineer, was killed. As it turns out, it was not a love crime, as originally thought, but a consequence of old conflict between villagers.
The presence of the investigators puts the authorities at work and forces potential suspects to come out of the shadows. The first disturbed is Urdărescu, the president of the agricultural production cooperative. He’s trying to get away of the blame, though he could have been a suspect because Ana had the habit of going out in the evening and measure the earth. Urdărescu has to confess the undeclared land surfaces, which were unknown to the party. Pricopie might have also been a suspect. The boy loved Ana. When he got a leave, he proposed to Ana shortly before going to the station.
Alongside the investigators, there is a film crew. The camera reconstructs the crime scene, its topography, and the portraits of the interviewed ones. Crăciun commits suicide after the arrest. The investigators arrive too late at him in the isolated cottage where he lived as a hermit. Finally, the participants take a photo. Panaitescu, disturbed to notice the girl’s tear, concludes that with her, something has died in the souls of the locals. (Ioan Lazar, “The Key Films of Romanian Cinematography”, 2009, Ed. Felix Film)
Lines:
“Listen, start shooting some beautiful frames, with sun.”
Reviews:
„Everyone provides a number of possible clues regarding the girl’s death, though we seem to sink into the twilight of Twin Peaks, leaving behind small stories that have begun and are postponed. All these stories give birth to a story within the story, that gives you quite a cinematic pleasure.” (Magda Mihăilescu, aarc.ro)
„In A Girl’s Tear, evil does not stop at party leadership, the High Comrades are more powerful, imposing the law of silence. Moreover, a whole society chooses to live in lie, theft and, ultimately, murder, so that the Party will live well. A movie without any illusion, with strong characters, hard to forget, A Girl’s Tear gives you a strong and bitter taste even today.” (Cristian Tudor Popescu, Gândul 06.09.2014)
Festivals:
- 1980 – ACIN – Direction Award: Diploma of Honor (George Bosun)
- 1981 – Costineşti – Award for Best Film and the award for Best Male Performance (Dorel Vişan)
