Synopsis
Foreword: Director Cristiana Nicolae presents a sensitive coming-of-age story in which Anca (Alexandra Duca), who has always been a bit of an outsider, tries to find her place in a world that is too rigid for her way of being.
Directed by: Cristiana Nicolae
Script by: Nicolae Cristache
Cast: Alexandra Duca, Rodica Mandache, Dan Condurache, Carmen Galin, Raluca Iordăchescu, Radu Gheorghe, Rodica Tapalagă, Nineta Gusti, Julieta Strîmbeanu, Costache Diamandi, Florin Tănase, Manuela Nace, Dorel Toma, Răzvan Popa, Eduard Iosiper
Producer: Marina Constantinescu
Cinematography by: Florin Paraschiv
Edited by: Rodica Fălcoianu
Sound: Mihai Orășanu
Music: Răzvan Cernat
Year: 1983
Category: Feature film
Genre: Drama
Duration: 90 minutes
PLOT SUMMARY
In the midst of her teenage crisis, Anca feels out of place both at home and at school, but there are people around her who eventually manage to give her strength and hope.
CRITICAL REVIEWS:
“Infused with a neorealist aesthetic impulse, focused on the lives of the working class, and viewed at the time as a mere portrayal of an identity crisis, the feature film is among the few audiovisual works of the era that dare to offer a subtle analysis of the rules of gender and social conduct. Anca (Alexandra Duca), a rebel, struggles to cope with these unwritten and unexplained rules of family and society — which are nonetheless widespread and accepted — and the film serves as a study of the mechanisms behind her ostracism and the methods of escape she devises.” – Arhiva Activă
“The film depicts a teenage crisis. A mild one, like a case of measles without complications. The decision to stop going to school lasts a few scenes and is quickly undone — in part by a beautiful woman (Manuela Nace) behind the wheel of a Dacia. The good fairy from the third floor, who turns out to be a member of parliament, helps him — by chance? by coincidence? — to get over the hurdle.” – Ecaterina Oproiu, “România liberă” magazine, December 23, 1983 – aarc.ro
“I think a trend has emerged. For about five years now, ever since ‘For Your Sake, Anca,’ in which I portrayed a family of young, hardworking, down-to-earth people — busy and concerned — the image of the mother, in our films has taken on the appearance of these charming women — sometimes in a hurry, with the diligence of bees, often amusing when they act as judges of their children’s actions, tender without pretense, bewildered by their own youth, or simply perplexed by the desires of others. More than once forced to be strict, categorical, even harsh. The audience’s reaction to each film featuring such a mother validates her authenticity. Over time, however, when viewed side by side, the images of the mother in our films become uniform: taking on the care of the home, the children, and work, of cooking meals and the child’s future, the mother as a character becomes increasingly opaque in her feelings and emotions; she cannot see beyond her own idea of this or that thing or situation; she makes decisions and is left bewildered when life takes a different path than the one she had envisioned.” – Cristiana Nicolae, “Cinema” magazine, No. 1, January 1988
“The film’s most successful sequences (the bridge of the old house, the returns from school, etc.) seem shrouded in a light, dreamlike haze—and cinematographer Florin Paraschiv’s artistic sensibility has perfectly captured the way to convey the heroine’s psychology on screen (the world seen through the lens of this psychology)… I am not, of course, referring to the two or three “dreamlike” sequences (in which the heroine imagines herself as a circus clown): they unnecessarily weigh down the action and shatter the film’s thin veneer of stylistic unity (which, from time to time, begins to take shape).” – Nicolae Ulieriu, “Săptămâna” magazine, December 30, 1983 – aarc.ro
“An educational film for both those who receive an education and those who provide it. To put it more poetically — that is, in the spirit of the film (with cinematography by Florin Paraschiv and music by Răzvan Cernat) — ‘for those who have forgotten that they were once children.’ To those who haven’t forgotten this, the film will seem ordinary, like the stories from their own street — though different from the alleyways of childhood (the film is not only ‘from’ but also ‘about’ the present). For those who have forgotten this—potential viewers who may be apathetic at first, but not by the end of the screening—the film will surprise them; is this “simple” age really that complicated? The film answers with a resounding ‘yes‘.” – Roxana Pană, “Cinema” magazine no. 1, January 1984 – aarc.ro
“It would be simplistic to view the film merely as a story about a girl’s adolescent crisis, as it was described in the conformist writings of the time. Of course, the film is also about that, and by the end it inevitably pays the price to ideological rigors — the protagonist, Anca, moves past her period of wandering and searching and seems to accept the position predetermined by a society where the rules regarding the roles of women and men — instilled from a young age — are strict and allow no deviations. “The message had to be unequivocal.” – Ionuț Mareș, cinepub.ro
“Although not immune to the risk of artificial dialogue and stereotypical secondary characters — treated, however, more in a comic vein — the relaxed tone, devoid of gravity and tension, in keeping with the protagonist’s imagination and candor, and its implicit discourse on the position of girls and women in society and human and social relationships in various settings of the 1980s make “For Your Sake, Anca” a film worth (re)discovering.” – Ionuț Mareș, cinepub.ro
TRIVIA:
- Director Cristiana Nicolae was born Cristiana Iliescu in 1943 in Târgoviște, into a family descended from the Alimănești boyar clan.
- She ended up studying directing at the “I. L. Caragiale” IATC almost by chance: in 1965, she took the directing exam following a bet her sister made with the future director Mircea Veroiu. However, she withdrew from the competition in the final stage and did not actually enroll at IATC until 1966, after giving up a position as a TAROM flight attendant on international routes.
- He made his feature film debut with “The Return of Magellan” (1973), based on his own screenplay inspired by an idea from Radu Cosașu’s novel. The film had 1,636,340 viewers by 1997, even though it was initially released with only a single print.
- “The Return of Magellan” was presented in 1974 at the Rencontres Internationales Film et Jeunesse in Cannes, a festival dedicated to films for young people.
- The ending of her debut film was altered at the request of the management of Film House Three, which insisted on the inclusion of a voice-over written by studio director Eugen Mandric — a change the director considered an unjust interference with the film.
- Her filmography includes nine feature films, covering various genres: historical drama (“The River That Climbs the Mountain”), crime film (“The Crossroads”), sports film (“Winter Stars”), films about teenagers (“For Your Sake, Anca,” “The Fourth Fence, Near the Pier,” “Recital in the Garden of Dwarves”), and fantasy adaptations (“The Inn Among the Hills”).
- She also directed the children’s miniseries “The White Rocket”, which was very popular in the 1980s.
- After 1990, the director settled in Canada, where she taught film courses at universities in Montreal, made documentaries, and worked for a time as a Russian translator for the Quebec government.
- In Canada, he also turned his attention to transpersonal psychology, a field in which he later specialized.
LINES:
• “At least do something — that’s all I ask.”—Anca’s mother (Rodica Mandache)
• “Are you playing with the pendulum?” – The physics teacher (Radu Gheorghe)
• “Are you fighting again, Visarion?” – The homeroom teacher (Carmen Galin)
• “If you don’t answer, it means you’re guilty.” – The homeroom teacher (Carmen Galin)
• “I’m going to be the greatest clown in the circus.” – Anca (Alexandra Duca)
• “Dad, please, I’m not going to school anymore. I beg you. (…) I’ll do anything, but I’m not going to school anymore!” – Anca (Alexandra Duca)
• “Visarion has shown that physics can actually be understood. It’s not just about rote learning.” – The physics teacher (Radu Gheorghe)
• “What do you mean, Mom? Does this only happen to you and not to anyone else?” – Anca’s mother (Rodica Mandache)
• “Why don’t you want to be like Mirela? Or like the neighbor’s little girl upstairs?” — Anca’s mother (Rodica Mandache)
This premiere is part of a national archive project supported by the Romanian National Film Centre.
Special thanks goes to the Romanian Filmmakers Union and to the Romanian Film Archive.
