OCCIDENT (2002) – comedy film online

Directed by: Cristian Mungiu
Script: Cristian Mungiu
Cast: Alexandru Papadopol, Dorel Vişan, Tania Popa, Coca Bloos, Tora Vasilescu, Ioan Gyuri Pascu, Valeriu Andriuţă, Anca Androne, Eugenia Bosânceanu, Julieta Strîmbeanu, Samuel Taste, Michael Beck, Alexandru Boghiu, Nicuşor Rada, Doru Ana, Viorel Comănici, Mihai Calotă, Ioan Chelaru
Producer: Dan Badea (Temple Film)
Cinematography by: Vivi Drăgan Vasile
Edited by: Niță Chivulescu
Sound: Andrei Pap
Music: Petre Mărgineanu, Ioan Gyuri Pascu
Year: 2002
Category: Feature film
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Duration: 105 minutes

121,823 – Cinepub viewers

PLOT SUMMARY

“Occident” is a film divided into three parts. The three stories take place within the same time frame and unfold over the course of a week, with characters whose life paths intersect and overlap—often independently of their intentions.

AWARDS

• 2002 – TIFF (Transilvania International Film Festival) – Best Film Award
• 2002 – UCIN (Romanian Filmmakers Union) – Best Director Award
• 2002 – UCIN – Best Screenplay Award
• 2002 – UCIN – Best Cinematography Award
• 2002 – UCIN – Best Actor Award (Alexandru Papadopol)
• 2002 – UCIN – Best Supporting Actress Award (Coca Bloos)
• 2002 – Montpellier – “Nova” Award
• 2002 – Leeds – Best Debut Award
• 2003 – Rennes – Special Jury Prize
• 2003 – Annonay – Grand Prize
• 2003 – Mons – Grand Prize and “Titra” Award
• 2004 – Sofia – Best Screenplay Award

FESTIVALS

• 2002 – Cannes Film Festival – Premiere Screening

CRITICAL REVIEWS:

“It’s a film about the allure of the ‘Beyond,’ about departures and goodbyes, but you won’t find a trace of overacting, feigned despair, judgment, or condescension. It’s a comedy (a Romanian one!)” – Andrei Gorzo, agenda.liternet.ro

“Mungiu’s story exudes a wise sadness: it’s about the world we live in, with its painful naivety (the well-meaning man from the Netherlands ready to adopt children), with its outdated image of society (marriage at all costs), and, above all, with passions stifled by conventional relationships—choices that become heartbreaking in their clarity, as they are seen for what they are (conventions) by those slowly fading away.” – Lucian Maier, editura.liternet.ro

“‘Occident’ is a bittersweet story about adapting to life in today’s Romania. Girls who seek love and girls who prefer material comfort, boys who put principles before immediate needs, and parents who choose to fulfill their children’s wishes in the way they believe is best—all meet in a story that unfolds over a few weeks in Bucharest in the year 2000.” – Ada Roseti, agenda.liternet.ro

“From satire to the absurd, from subtle irony targeting institutions—police, adoptions, advertising—to the bitter tone of sentimental story dissolution (including the sarcasm in the hunt for foreigners, with the comic-heroic twist of the Italian who wants to stay in Romania despite being born in Mozambique), all the tools of parody are focused on young people’s relationships with their families, their friends, society, and the ongoing transition of our times.” – Călin Stănculescu, agenda.liternet.ro

“After Stuff and Dough and Occident, Papadopol could become the emblematic figure of the generation that took off its red scarf with the national tricolor and, without really understanding what was happening, stepped into the transition. (That’s not to say he plays the same role in both films: they are two performances as good as they are different.)” – Andrei Gorzo, agenda.liternet.ro

“It’s a screenwriting tour de force that might seem like ‘just’ empty virtuosity—though, for a debut, that’s nothing to scoff at!—if Mungiu hadn’t filled it with such convincing characters, dialogue, and atmosphere that, despite the many plot twists, each more inventive than the last, you leave Occident with the feeling that we live in a Romania that is sad yet full of humor—and that this makes for great films, provided you don’t look only at the glass half empty…” – Alex. Leo Șerban, agenda.liternet.ro

“The youth of 2000, who twenty years earlier used to dream of sci-fi, now prefer emigration, leaving behind resigned parents. Still, the film is full of humor (reality ‘is just like that’—the favorite phrase of the police officer played by Dorel Vișan), and the intelligent way the script weaves a story in three parts that complete the narrative thread keeps the viewer engaged.” – Iulia Blaga, agenda.liternet.ro

This amalgam of life, unjustifiably cheerful and humane, is (and largely remains today) the nightmare of anyone who wants nothing more than to live a decent life in Romania. However, it cannot be replaced, either in part or in whole, by the West, that promised land which remains only an imaginary construct that crumbles at the slightest touch. It cannot be contradicted, rejected, or forgotten. The only way to survive, caught in this whirlwind, as the director suggests (at least in this film, which is very different from all the others that followed), is humor, finding the funny side of things. Unfortunately, from this point on, the shift toward falseness is imminent. – Augustin Cupșa, cinepub.ro

TRIVIA:

• With success in the same section, “Quinzaine des Réalisateurs”. The film’s budget was 4.3 billion lei, but it was nearly insufficient. After the shooting period, the film crew managed to fund the next stage with support from McCann-Ericsson. For the post-production phase, Cristian Mungiu used the funds he had received from the Rotterdam Film Festival’s “Hubert Bals Fund.”
• “Occident” is the feature film debut of director Cristian Mungiu. In an interview with agenda.liternet.ro, when asked by Florin Lăzărescu about the importance of portraying harsh realities in cinema, Mungiu replied: “I think films should be believable, they should simulate reality as faithfully as possible, while still managing to tell a story others want to follow. In other words, the story must always be possible, even if not necessarily probable.” In a separate interview with Iulia Badea, discussing the film’s production, Mungiu shared: “I could write a whole book about it. It was very difficult, even if now I’ve either forgotten or prefer not to remember much. We started without a full budget, hoping that what we filmed would be good enough to help us secure funding along the way. So there was a real risk we’d have to stop wherever the money ran out.”
• On the theme of emigration, Mungiu confessed: “I’m often exasperated by what happens here, and I sometimes say — ‘I’d just leave once and for all, so I wouldn’t have to see all these idiots anymore!’—but the truth is, I don’t think I’m cut out to leave. I’d go abroad for a while to work on a film, but not permanently. I still write in Romanian. I’ve never stayed long outside the country, so I don’t really know what it’s like.”
• The film was a success at the Cannes Film Festival, screened in the ”Quinzaine des Réalisateurs”, following the previous year’s selection of ”Stuff and Dough” (Marfa și banii).
• The film’s budget was 4.3 billion Romanian lei, which proved nearly insufficient. After filming wrapped, the team secured additional funding from McCann-Ericsson. For post-production, Mungiu relied on support from the Hubert Bals Fund (Rotterdam Film Festival).
• Actor Valeriu Andriuță (who plays Nae) had appeared in all of Mungiu’s short films prior to this feature debut.
• Mungiu cast Alexandru Papadopol after watching him in ”Stuff and Dough”.
• He admitted it was difficult to convince Dorel Vișan to play another police officer, as the actor had already portrayed a similar role under director Radu Gabrea.

LINES:

• “Bravo, children! Very nice! This gentleman, Mr. Van Horn, is a guest from Belgium and would very much like to meet you. He really loves children and, perhaps, when he leaves, he might want to take one of you with him, okay?” – Kindergarten Director (Tora Vasilescu)
• “The first thing you need to understand in advertising is that it’s not just people who have a soul—products do, too. So if you identify with the product, you give it life, you love it, then the client will love it too. And if they love it, they’ll buy it. Got it? Now get to work!” – Director of a marriage agency (Doru Ana)
• “What? It’s not good here? It is good here—but people leave for something better. She’s leaving, not looking back, and the house will be empty.” – col. Marian Vișoiu (Dorel Vișan)
• “Remember, you gave your word of honor that you wouldn’t write anymore, right? We don’t want the Italian gentleman to think we’re savages.” – Kindergarten Director (Tora Vasilescu)
• “But Colonel, I signaled you that he was Black, but you didn’t understand.” – Soldier
• “I’m not accusing you of anything, Colonel. That’s how times were back then. In the end, I left anyway—I made a life for myself over there in Germany. But back then, when you pulled me out of the room, I was covered in blood, all my teeth knocked out—you told me you felt sorry for me, that you had a child too, a daughter if I remember correctly.” – Nae (Valeriu Andriuță)

ARTICLES:

• Occident, Cristian Mungiu (Liternet review excerpt) – editura.liternet.ro
• How I Met Duane Reade – Occident (by Cristian Mungiu) – agenda.liternet.ro
• From One Excess to Another (by Laurențiu Brătan) – agenda.liternet.ro
• To Be or Not to Be an Emigrant (by Ada Roseti) – agenda.liternet.ro
• Interview with Director Cristian Mungiu – Occident (by Florin Lăzărescu) – agenda.liternet.ro
• A Delicious Film – Occident (by Călin Stănculescu) – agenda.liternet.ro
• A place called Beyond – Occident (by Andrei Gorzo) – agenda.liternet.ro
• A stationary road movie – Occident (by Alex. Leo Șerban) – agenda.liternet.ro
• Interview with Valeriu Andriuță – Occident (by Iulia Blaga) – agenda.liternet.ro
• A lucky cat – Occident (by Iulia Blaga) – agenda.liternet.ro
• Interview with Cristiam Mungiu (by Iulia Blaga) – agenda.liternet.ro
• Cannes 5: Romanian Day (present at Cannes!) – Occident – agenda.liternet.ro
• Cinepolitics – eefb.org
• Romanian theater and films: Occident (2002) – agerpres.ro
• Occident, Cristian Mungiu (Quinzaine 2002) – quinzaine.cineastes.fr
• Occident (2002) – istoriafilmuluiromanesc.ro
• Five years after Occident, Cristian Mungiu is working on a new feature film – aarc.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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