MA’AM CHIRITZA (1986) – comedy film online

Directed by: Mircea Drăgan
Script by: Draga Olteanu-Matei, adapted from Vasile Alecsandri
Cast: Draga Olteanu-Matei, Dem Rădulescu, Ileana Stana Ionescu, Ștefan Tapalagă, Cezara Dafinescu, Bianca Ionescu, Cornel Constantiniu, Dorin Anastasiu, Rodica Popescu Bitănescu, Dionisie Vitcu, Monica Rusu, Adrian Păduraru, Jean Constantin, Iurie Darie, Teofil Vîlcu, Marian Hudac, Adriana Șchiopu, Lică Gherghilescu, Emilia Porojan, Dumitru Rucăreanu, Cornel Vulpe, Dan Damian
Producer: Marin Theodorescu
Cinematography by: Ion Marinescu
Edited by: Adriana Ionescu
Sound: Nicolae Ciolcă
Music: Free transcriptions by Al. Flechtenmacher; original music and conductor George Grigoriu
Year: 1986
Category: Feature film
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 86 minutes

PLOT SUMMARY

The film centers on Chirița, who has just returned from Paris, determined to “Frenchify” her family and climb the social ladder. Eager to succeed, she tries to transform her husband and marry off her daughters to advantageous partners, causing conflicts and comical situations. Between farce and social satire, the story captures the ridiculousness of social aspirations and the festive atmosphere of the Bârzoieni mansion.

CRITICAL REVIEWS:

“After extensive experience in many genres, Mircea Drăgan returns to comedy with higher standards than in the The Miscellaneous Brigade series. Together with his inspired collaborator, the filmmaker exercises his profession with nerve and imagination, with confidence and naturalness, rediscovering the joy of filming, as in his early films. And, in good company, he even finds a new vocation: musical comedy. A genre we all enjoy.” – Alice Mănoiu, “Cinema” magazine no. 6, June 1987, aarc.ro

“There are plenty of moments, roles, and jokes in the film that do not go unnoticed. And there is joy. The attempt itself deserves attention because this film shows that Romanian literature is adaptable to the screen in its entirety in the modern era.” – Valentin Silvestru, aarc.ro

“I used to say that Mircea Drăgan’s true calling was comedy… Put forward as a simple working hypothesis—in a text for the advertising leaflet for the film “The Miscellaneous Brigade Strikes Again“—the idea found and did not find confirmation in the director’s subsequent films… It was confirmed by the simple fact that “The Miscellaneous Brigade on Alert” and “The Miscellaneous Brigade in the Mountains and on the Seaside” followed shortly after the first film; and it was not confirmed by the fact — essential this time — that Mircea Drăgan returned, after 1972, to so-called “serious” films, abandoning the comic vein he seemed to have discovered in his own sphere of interests and concerns.” – Nicolae Ulieriu, “Săptămâna” magazine, May 29, 1987, aarc.ro

“The value of the new orchestral score — created by George Grigoriu — is ensured not only by the composer’s skill and artistic imagination, with which he rewrites Flechtenmacher’s “songs” in a contemporary spirit, but also by his ability to create a series of original pages that blend perfectly with these free adaptations. The continuous interest that the music arouses can be explained, first and foremost, by the great diversity of the “numbers”: arias or couplets alternate with duets, ensembles, or choruses; purely vocal moments are contrasted with accompanied ones, or even purely orchestral ones: the very writing of the latter suggests the different types of instrumental ensembles used at the time — from taraf to brass band; Finally, the melody, rhythm, and timbre reflect (successively, but also simultaneously at times) the Romanian folk background and the two spheres of foreign influence — Greek-Turkish and Western European — which were clashing at the time and in the musical expression of our culture. – Luminița Vartolomei, Cinema magazine, no. 6, June 1987, aarc.ro

“Our “fair lady” now rides her tricycle around the Bîrzoieni threshing floor, sweating under the cursed weight-loss regimen, consumed at a gymnastic pace, among the weeds of the pond, her personal property, inventing lifebuoys from local pig bladders, frantically ‘french-can-can-ing’ under the fearful and reproachful gaze of the local boyars.” – Mădălina Stănescu, “Cinema” magazine no. 6, June 1987, aarc.ro

“In her essay ‘Notes on Camp’, Susan Sontag defines camp sensibility in relation to the rural environment: ‘All camp objects and persons contain a considerable element of artifice. Nothing in nature can be camp… Rural camp is also man-made, and most camp objects are urban…’ The entire aesthetic constructed in ‘Ma’am Chiritza’ points to this type of ‘man-made rural’ that goes beyond the rendering of Chirița’s cosmopolitan aspirations. The freshly painted and polished boyar house, with traditional pots perfectly placed in the kitchen and tea cups in the guest rooms, with its garden full of ever-cleaned and blooming roses, to which are added all the costumes that are a little too well sewn, too colorful, and too… too much. Each frame renders a carefully curated history, carefully constructed from scratch, immortalized in the amber of film”. – Iulia Necșulescu, cinepub.ro

TRIVIA:

• The film is based on Vasile Alecsandri’s “Chirița” but is constructed as a collage of the author’s entire oeuvre (theater, prose, poetry, journalism, and correspondence).
• Draga Olteanu-Matei sought to recover the Moldovan dialect and the musicality of Alecsandri’s language, inspired by Miluță Gheorghiu’s classic interpretation.
• Characters were created or expanded for the film, such as the comic couple Ion and Rafira or Barabuță, a character vaguely mentioned in the original texts but developed cinematically.
• Many famous lines are adaptations, collages, or inventions in Alecsandri’s style, some of which were later attributed to the playwright by critics themselves.
• The film introduces original scenes with satirical intent (the French lesson, the party with “translated” menus, Chivea’s baptism in “Șivaleta”), ironically commenting on linguistic snobbery and social climbing.
• The music by George Grigoriu modernises classical themes in a measured way, in the spirit of the contemporary adaptation of Alecsandri’s work.
• The stated aim of the film was to be an accessible and “cheerful” satire, which sanctions excess and ridicule through popular humour, faithful to the spirit of Vasile Alecsandri.
• The film was seen by 2,420,664 people in Romanian cinemas, according to a report on the number of viewers recorded by Romanian films from the date of release until December 31, 2014, compiled by the National Center for Cinematography.
• Mircea Drăgan was born on October 2, 1932, although his official birth date is listed as October 3, in Gura Ocniţei, Dâmbovița. He graduated from the Institute of Theater and Cinematographic Art in 1955, as valedictorian of the Directing Department.
• In 1963, he began teaching at the “I.L. Caragiale” Institute of Theater and Cinematographic Arts in Bucharest, in the film directing department, as a lecturer; he became vice-dean in 1967 and dean of the Theater Faculty in 1970.
• He was secretary general of the Romanian Filmmakers’ Association (1965-1974) and, in 1967, he was president of the National Center for Cinematography.
• Between 1976 and 1981, he was rector of the “I.L. Caragiale” Institute of Theater and Cinematographic Art in Bucharest.
• In 1964, he began teaching film directing at the Institute of Theater and Cinematographic Art, in the Film Directing department, later becoming rector of the institution.
• Among the successful films he directed are “The Column“, “The Miscellaneous Brigade Strikes Again” (BD in Action), “The Miscellaneous Brigade on Alert“, “The Miscellaneous Brigade in the Mountains and on the Seaside“, “The Jder Brothers“, “Stephen the Great – Vaslui 1475,” “Explosion”, “Oil”, “Aurel Vlaicu,” and the television series “The Vlașins”.
• Director Mircea Drăgan died in October 2017, at the age of 85, in Râmnicu Vâlcea. He was married to actress Ioana Drăgan.

LINES:

 • “Je suis hereuse. You, as a boy, are rice. I, as a mother, am hereuse, meaning happy.” – Chirița (Draga Olteanu-Matei)
• “I love you, monsieur, I could put you in my bosom.” – Bârzoi (Dem Rădulescu)
• “What kind of roads are these? First we lost a wheel, then our horses fell, then our cart fell.” – Chirița (Draga Olteanu-Matei)
• “My dear… How he learned to speak French!” – Bârzoi (Dem Rădulescu)
• “From now on, when you serve the dishes at the table, you will call them by their French nicknames.” – Chirița (Draga Olteanu-Matei)
• “(Paris): the wonder of wonders! The Babylon of our times and a world beyond worlds!” – Chirița (Draga Olteanu-Matei)
• “In other words: I’m cold, Marghioala.” – Chirița (Draga Olteanu-Matei)
• “You, who have not traveled much… have molded in the backwaters of the province.” – Guguță (Lică Gherghilescu)
• “Chirița rises in rank and no one bothers her!” – Chirița (Draga Olteanu-Matei)
• “Today I am the stewardess! And I am the most chosen! I feel like an empress!” – Chirița (Draga Olteanu-Matei)
• “Let the fire burn their German clothes!” – Bârzoi (Dem Rădulescu)
• “Why do you need a retirement pension? Don’t you have enough wealth? – Chirița (Draga Olteanu-Matei)Calypso could not console herself for Ulysses’ departure. – Monsieur Charles (Ștefan Tapalagă)

ARTICLES:

• Review: The Ball at Bîrzoieni, by Valentin Silvestru – aarc.ro
• Review: Ma’am Chiritza (Lady Chirița), by Nicolae Ulieriu – aarc.ro
• Review: From “comedy with songs” to “musical”, by Luminița Vartolomei, aarc.ro
• Review: Vintage Trio, by Mădălina Stănescu, aarc.ro
• Review: The verve of a timeless classic, by Draga Olteanu Matei, aarc.ro
• Review: Ma’am Chiritza, by Alice Mănoiu – aarc.ro
• Draga Olteanu-Matei, October 24, 1933 – November 18, 2020 – aarc.ro
• Who was Coama Chirița, who inspired Vasile Alecsandri – historia.ro
• The “Chirița” series (1850, 1855, 1865, 1875) – agerpres.ro

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.

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