Synopsis
Sad family, full of humor
Everybody in our family, by Radu Jude, is a Romanian film premiered in 2012 at Berlin International Film Festival (Forum section) and it won the Best Film Award (The Heart of Sarajevo) at Sarajevo International Film Festival. Out of the Romanian movies, it was the revelation of Gopo Awards, the 2013 edition, starring Șerban Pavlu, Sofia Nicolaescu, Mihaela Sîrbu and Gabriel Spahiu, with the extraordinary participation of the well-known Romanian actors Tamara Buciuceanu-Botez, Stela Popescu and Alexandru Arșinel.
Director: Radu Jude
Scriptwriters: Radu Jude, Corina Sabău
Cast: Șerban Pavlu, Sofia Nicolaescu, Mihaela Sîrbu, Gabriel Spahiu, Tamara Buciuceanu-Botez, Stela Popescu și Alexandru Arșinel.
Produced by: Ada Solomon, Stienette Bosklopper, Gabriel Antal
Cinematography by: Andrei Butică
Film editing by: Cătălin F. Cristuțiu
Year: 2012
Category: feature film
Genre: comedy, psychological drama
Duration: 107 minutes
400,467 – Spectatori Cinepub
PLOT SUMMARY
Marius is a divorced man in his late thirties. His ex-wife, Otilia, remarried an accountant. Their 5 years old daughter, Sofia, lives with her mother, a fact that keeps Marius in a state of vexation towards his wife. According to the law, Marius can spend with his daughter only a limited amount of time. The day Marius goes to take his daughter for a short holiday to the seaside, he finds out that his ex-wife is not at home and he is told that his daughter is sick. He doesn’t believe it and tries to take Sofia by force…
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Marius Vizureanu, the father whose rights have been trenched upon, the wronged father, makes up a reference figure within the range of anti-hero characters in Romanian movies. The character, a choleric profile, seems to have been constantly torn since his divorce on. On the fatal day, the main character is “set up” to react by his father, played by Alexandru Arșinel who shows a completely different act than the comic, good nature one, we’ve all been used to in the majority of Romanian movies. His father drives his attention to all the issues (parental, those involving maleness, those hinting to his incapacity of winning battles) that are going to break out in the crazy hours spent by Marius in his ex-wife’s apartment. Aurel’s (the current partner of Otilia) opposition to Marius’ decision to take his daughter to the seaside triggers the whole psychological hell that slept deep down inside the main character.
In the Romanian movie, inclined as it is towards domestic conflict topics, the stakes were high regarding the making up of new tense family scenes, but the hell inside Marius’s head turned either into grotesque or really humorous, when not scary actions, shows a much wider range of emotions, reactions or irresponsible acts. And this range allows even more room for successful Romanian movies of the kind.
Reviews
“A masterwork of black comedy and suspense […] it typifies the best qualities of contemporary Romanian cinema” (Indiewire).
„Radu Jude sees in a monstrous manner the family relationships in nowadays Romania and he also puts them under lenses that magnify the grotesque in them. While benefiting of memorable acting – especially that of Şerban Pavlu -, the director’s second feature film shows in a tragic-comical key the sick core of the Romanian society. Paradoxically, each new time one watches the movie it seems like the drama melts into an even crazier comedy.” (Iulia Blaga)
„The end is not at all therapeutic in a Hollywood sense: during the last moments, when the bleeding, but very determined, ex-husband is walking down the street, it is very unlikely for him to head towards a new life, wiser than his old one. But while, in those moments, his stupidity is deemed incurable, the very same stupidity equals a vital force, the very thing that keeps the character going – like in a cartoon with Tom the cat, who, by the end of the episode, finds himself fur torn to pieces but his resilience untouched.” (Andrei Gorzo)
Lines
“It’s a difficult situation and we’re doing our best. That’s what modern families do.”
“It breaks my heart to see my son so low.”
“Shut up, I won’t hurt him! I’m just tying him up.”
“You also betrayed Jesus Christ, not only me!”
“But even Dalai Lama admits sometimes you have no choice and you must use violence.”
Festivals
- Berlin International Film Festival (Forum section) – Germany, 2012
Awards
- Best Film Award (Heart of Sarajevo) at Sarajevo International Film Festival – Bosnia and Hertzegovina, 2012
- Bayard d’Or and Best Actor Award (Șerban Pavlu), Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur – Belgium, 2012
- Blue Angel Award for Best Director (Radu Jude) and Best Leading Role (Şerban Pavlu), Trencianske Teplice – Slovakia, 2012
- Jury Award, Philadelphia Film Festival – USA, 2012
- International Federation of Film Critics Award, Jameson CineFest, Miskolc International Film Festival – Hungary, 2012
- Anonimul Trophy, Anonimul International Independent Film Festival – Romania, 2012
- Romanian Days Award for Feature Film Section, Transilvania International Film Festival – Romania, 2012
- Best Director Award, Audience Award, BucharEst International Film Festival – Romania, 2012
- Best Script (Radu Jude, Corina Sabău), Best Director (Radu Jude), Best Film (Ada Solomon, Radu Jude), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Șerban Pavlu), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Mihaela Sîrbu), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Gabriel Spahiu), Gopo Awards – Romania, 2013
- Best Director (Radu Jude), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Șerban Pavlu), Best Actress in a Leading Role(Mihaela Sîrbu), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Sofia Nicolaescu), UCIN – Romania, 2012
Media articles
- Berlin Review: Masterful Black Comedy ‘Everybody in Our Family’ Demonstrates the Best Qualities of Modern Romanian Cinema – www.indiewire.com
- Review: ‘Everybody in Our Family’ – www.variety.com
- Everybody in Our Family – www.screendaily.com
