THE BRIDE FROM THE TRAIN (1980) – love film online

Directed by: Lucian Bratu
Script by: D.R. Popescu
Cast: Gheorghe Visu, Aurora Leonte, Radu Gheorghe, Radu Vaida, Ica Matache, Dorel Vișan, Ion Igorov, Răzvan Vasilescu, Vasile Muraru, Valentina Caracașian-Bucur, Gil Dobrică
Producer: Sideriu Aurian, Vasilica Istrate
Cinematography by: Nicu Stan
Edited by: Erika Aurian
Sound: Silviu Camin
Music: Larențiu Profeta
Year: 1980
Category: Feature film
Genre: Comedy, Love
Duration: 83 minutes

14 – Cinepub viewers

PLOT SUMMARY

Mihu (Gheorghe Visu) and Filimon (Radu Gheorghe), two friends, are in love with the same girl, Carolina (Aurora Leonte). Their rivalry takes the form of a bet. The girl knows that she is the one who must choose, and she hesitates to do so because she loves them both for purely emotional reasons.

PLOT SUMMARY

• 1980 – ACIN – Award for screenplay (D.R. Popescu)
• 1980 – ACIN – Award for soundtrack (Silviu Camil)
• 1980 – Costinești Festival – Grand Prize
• 1980 – Costinești Festival – Award for cinematography (Nicu Stan)
• 1980 – Costinești Festival – Special mention for performance (Dorel Vișan)

CRITICAL REVIEWS:

“For Lucian Bratu, this is by far his best, most accomplished, and most representative film.” – Radu Georgescu, Săptămâna magazine, May 30, 1980 (aarc.ro)

“A romantic adventure with a neorealist touch involving three young people who are “atypical” for the standard realities of socialism; two of them love the picturesque railway escapades, in which they play the roles of “groom” (Gheorghe Visu) and “bride” (Aurora Leonte); the third (Radu Gheorghe), who joins them and who will ultimately “kidnap” the “bride”, is ruled by steadfast feelings and retains a grain of rationality.” – Bujor T. Râpeanu, Filmat în România, 2005, Ed. Fundației Pro

“Throughout the film, jokes and serious events are intertwined; the girl dresses up as a bride and, thus attired, walks through the city arm in arm with him, who is himself disguised as a groom wearing a white tie. The funny thing is that, on the train they are traveling on, which is packed with people, there are two brides in the same compartment: one real, and the other wearing a dress she is not yet entitled to, but — perhaps — precisely to show that she conceives of love only in the sacramental and immutable form of a true, lasting, and definitive marriage. This belief in traditional marriage is all the more curious given that all three of our heroes are enemies of outdated prejudices.” – D. I. Suchianu in “România literară”, June 1980, apud aarc.ro

“The film is so delicately guided along the difficult path of discreet, barely discernible suggestion that when the viewer suspects that it is precisely the failure of love that will transform the unhappy young man for the better, the filmmakers achieve their goal: yes, these are our young people, beautiful or on the verge of becoming beautiful in a life that demands just that from people: humanity, dedication, trust, courage in the fight against moral decay.” – Radu Georgescu, “Săptămâna” magazine, May 30, 1980 (aarc.ro)

“It is a truly up-to-date film, born not from the old path of falsification and a watered-down reality, but from the sincere and noble desire of filmmakers to be present and original on the front lines of art and public education. (…) it proved to be an opportunity for mature cinema; and this opportunity should not be neglected by a film industry that, it would seem, is experiencing a revival”. – Radu Georgescu, Săptămâna magazine, May 30, 1980 (aarc.ro)

“The film should belong to Carolina, but that’s not the case at all — on the contrary, she is Bratu’s most bland protagonist, a combination of Ruxandra Vancu’s spoiled spontaneity and the resignation of his mature women. Well, this story, this film, belongs entirely to Mihu’s character, the charming boy who has to make a decision whether to start his life – marriage, factory work, evening school – like Filimon, or not, to continue playing the game alone. And, like other protagonists, but especially Bratu’s female protagonists, Mihu is a misunderstood melodramatic, a false egoist whose face must have filled the walls of many teenagers.” – Călin Boto, cinepub.ro

“In Bratu’s hands, the film acquires, in addition to a gender consciousness (“socialist feminism”, as many have called it, starting with journalist Iaromira Popovici), a kind of tremor, a spark, and, something truly rare in Romanian cinema, a relaxed, imponderable sex appeal, made possible above all by Gheorghe Visu, whose body and face, especially after Dan Nuțu left the country in 1979, would bring masculine sensuality to the Romanian screen (a sensuality very different from Nuțu’s, more opaque, fixed, and self-assured, while Nuțu was “the tough-vulnerable man of 1960s cinema,” as Tudor Caranfil aptly described him).” – Călin Boto, cinepub.ro

TRIVIA:

• Director Lucian Bratu was born on July 14, 1924, in Bucharest, into a Jewish family. He graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts in Bucharest in 1948 and the Union Institute of Cinematographic Art in Moscow, Russia, in 1955.
• He made his directorial debut in 1959 with the film “Secretul cifrului” (The Secret of the Cipher), an adaptation of the spy novel “La miezul nopții va cădea o stea” (At Midnight a Star Will Fall) by Theodor Constantin. This was followed by “The Kiss” (1965), “A Film with a Charming Girl” (1966), “Road in the Shadows” (1972), “The City Seen from Above” (1975), “The Bride on the Train” (1979), “Angela Goes On” (1981), “Will You Grant Mitigating Circumstances?” (1984), and “Eleven O’Clock” (1985).
• Lucian Bratu also directed dozens of documentaries.
• He received the State Prize and Grand Prize at the Mamaia National Film Festival in 1964, the Grand Prize at the Costinesti Film Festival (1978), the Prize for Short Feature Film at Szolnok (Hungary), the Special Jury Prize and the Southern Cross Medal at the International Film Festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the Silver Statuette in Cork, Ireland, in 1964.
• After 1970, he began mentoring amateur filmmakers. From 1990, he taught directing at the Academy of Theater and Film in Bucharest (ATF).
• In 1978, he settled for a period in the United States and collaborated with screenwriter Petru Popescu on the screenplay for the film “The Last Wave” (1978), directed by Peter Weir, and on the production and screenplay for the film “Death of An Angel” (1987). In Romania, he collaborated with Petru Popescu on the film “Drum în penumbră” (1972).
• “Mireasa din tren” was seen by 1,361,500 viewers 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.
• Filming took place in Bucharest, Ploiești, Otopeni, Reșița, and Galați in the first half of 1979.
• Lucian Bratu was the first translator into Romanian of J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye”.
• The director’s most famous literary collaboration was with Radu Cosașu on the screenplay for the film “Un film cu o fată fermecătoare” (A Film with a Charming Girl) (1966).
• Lucian Bratu was married and had two daughters. He died in 1998 in Bucharest. After his death, his autobiography, “Cu mine în rolul principal” (With Me in the Leading Role), was published.

LINES:

• “I don’t read poetry in the morning because it gives me the chills.” – Șovagău (Radu Vaida)
• “I got married yesterday and forgot my wife locked in the house.” – Anton (Răzvan Vasilescu)
• “I stand upside down and judge straight. Because I was stupid.” – Filimon “It’s always dangerous to stand next to me.” – Mihu (Gheorghe Visu)
• “I don’t want to die as a retired person. I hope to at least get away with a heart attack.” – Mihu (Gheorghe Visu)
• “I haven’t changed. And I’m not changing. The world is changing.” – Mihu (Gheorghe Visu)
• “A serenade with the double bass?” – Șovagău (Radu Vaida)
• “At school, you don’t need ideas, just to sit with him at your desk.” – Mihu (Gheorghe Visu)
• “You don’t sleep next to a bride.” – Filimon (Radu Gheorghe)
• “You’re only a bride once in this life.” – Filimon (Radu Gheorghe)
• “Wake up, Zavaidoc, and sing!” – Filimon’s father (Dorel Vișan)
• “Don’t judge people by their actions. You’re wrong.” – Filimon’s father (Dorel Vișan)
• “You don’t yet understand the role of women in the progress of humanity.” – Ion Igorov (Uncle Scarlat)
• “I never liked female students.” – Filimon’s father (Dorel Vișan)
• “I’d like to see that son-in-law who, after his bride runs away from the wedding, comes after her with the police.” – Filimon’s father (Dorel Vișan)
• “If you don’t marry her by September, I’ll take her as my wife.” – Filimon (Radu Gheorghe)
• “All those who don’t tell the truth are losers.” – Filimon (Radu Gheorghe)
• “I’m interested in drinking a beer, eating a steak, and having you take me in your arms.” – Carolina (Aurora Leonte)
• “A marriage based on love is a mistake.” – Mihu (Gheorghe Visu)
• “Don’t marry me. I’m evil. I’m a very evil woman. I drink plum brandy.” – Carolina (Aurora Leonte)
• “Now you’re a man too. You kissed a girl in public.” – Carolina (Aurora Leonte)
• “I want a crazy love, a furious love, like in those English movies.” – Carolina (Aurora Leonte)
• “Do you know how to love in a modern way?” – Carolina (Aurora Leonte)
• “I believe in nature, in Mendeleev’s table.” – Filimon (Radu Gheorghe)
• “I was saying that it’s our dead sea.” – Mihu (Gheorghe Visu)
• “We struggled for four hours straight to bury her.” – Carolina (Aurora Leonte)

ARTICLES:

• “The Bride from the Train” – film review, by Radu Georgescu, aarc.ro
• “The Bride from the Train” – tvr.ro
• Romanian Film Sunday: stories of brides, marriages, and divorces – tvr.ro
• “The Bride from the Train” (1980) – istoriafilmuluiromanesc.ro
• Personality of the Day: actress Aurora Leonte – 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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