THE FRESHMEN’S SPRING (1985) – comedy film online

Directed by: Mircea Moldovan
Script by: Petre Sălcudeanu
Cast: Dem Rădulescu, Tamara Buciuceanu-Botez, Horațiu Mălăele, Anda Onesa, Tora Vasilescu, Ovidiu Schumacher, Paul Lavric, Ana Ciontea, Adela Mărculescu, Aristide Teică, Nae Gh. Mazilu
Producer: Titi Popescu
Cinematography by: Ion Dobre
Edited by: Adriana Ionescu
Sound: Andrei Papp
Music: Horia Moculescu
Year: 1985
Category: Feature film
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 80 minutes

82,009 – Cinepub viewers

PLOT SUMMARY

We are now fifteen years later in the fictional village that we already know quite well. And, indeed, Viișoara has not changed that much over the years: the shepherd is the same lonely character, Varvara is the same energetic woman caught up in complicated administrative tasks, Toderaș with his bottle of plum brandy hidden among the chopped wood in the barn and his castrated authority, the elders are wise and still active in community life, the young people are full of enthusiasm. But not all of them. (Adrian Ionescu, cinepub.ro)

CRITICAL REVIEWS:

“The Toderaş couple (Dem Rădulescu and Tamara Buciuceanu-Botez) wait at the train station, accompanied by a band of women, for their son, the future agronomist Ionuţ (Horațiu Mălăele). But the young man is not on the train; he is walking slowly to the internship that Varvara has required him to do at the cooperative, under her authoritarian leadership. The third and final installment of newcomers, following autumn and winter, changes the cast of the series without warning: not only are Dragă Olteanu and Marin Moraru replaced by the conductor from The Graduates, Tamara Buciuceanu and Dem Rădulescu, but the entire population of the village takes on new identities, disregarding, as in the series Haiducii, the viewer’s right to custom. The gloomy spring, which also aspires to be a comedy, depicts a season of “nights full of charm” in which parents elegiacally spin dreams of production while their son rushes to the field to visit his sister, a tractor driver, with whom he discusses the forecast per hectare, and then inspects the village, whistling sadly.” – Tudor Caranfil, “Dictionary of Romanian Films,” Ed. Litera, 2003

“However, acknowledging one’s limitations or even mistakes requires a special strategy. Mircea Moldovan’s film attempts to construct such a strategy. From nostalgic and adventurous (see the fanfare with which Varvara comes to the station to welcome her son), the story moves into the realm of farce. In order to persuade his mother to listen to him, Ionuț plays the role of the imaginary sick man. The inflexible Varvara’s heart melts when she sees her boy fallen ill. This spoiled “newbie”, kept under supervision, achieves his plan. He convinces his mother that agrotechnics is a science she will have to take into account. In turn, Varvara approves the suggestions made by her son, who is doing an internship at the end of his last year of college.” – Ioana Lazăr, Literary-artistic supplement of Scânteia tineretului, May 2, 1987 (aarc.ro)

“The satirical key to the film lies with Ionuț and the younger generation. However, the film also shows us many young people who are ready to settle down in comfortable places, even though they have training in agricultural specialties. The story takes them out of their parasitic routine and sends them to the fields or to animal husbandry. With only one freshman awaiting his diploma, whose ending also brings him a “freshman” (in the person of the one “pregnant” by Varvara with the care of the offspring), a character interpreted not only with aplomb and imagination by Anda Onesa, but also with an accuracy of comic suggestions), Spring… can move on to the next and final series: The Freshmen’s Summer.” – Ioana Lazăr, Literary-Artistic Supplement of Scânteia tineretului, May 2, 1987 (aarc.ro)

Ionuț has all the qualities of the hero constructed by the new socialist realism imagined by Ceaușescu: healthy roots, energetic, involved, smart, and willing to sacrifice himself for the community. Ionuț is very similar to Petru, the young man played by the same Horațiu Mălăele in The Hidden Mountain (1975, dir. Andrei Cătălin Băleanu). Both find work liberating. In fact, in most socialist realist films, work has its own theology.” – Adrian Ionescu, cinepub.ro

“Beyond this love story and the main plot, the film follows the process through which Ionuț tries to bring back to the village a young and modern vision of agriculture – a metaphorical ‘spring’ of the rural spirit. At the same time, he discovers the complexity of the peasant world and the need to reconcile theoretical ideals with the concrete reality of collective work.” – Adrian Ionescu, cinepub.ro

TRIVIA:

• The screenwriter Petre Sălcudeanu had “a certain inclination towards the village world” (according to Draga Olteanu-Matei) and intended to make four films that would follow the integration of a group of college graduates into rural life throughout the four seasons of a year.
• Several changes were made in this film compared to the other two: Draga Olteanu-Matei and Marin Moraru, who played the roles of Varvara and Toderaș in the first two films, were replaced by Tamara Buciuceanu-Botez and Dem Rădulescu. Other actors (Paul Lavric, Nae Gh. Mazilu) play different roles than those they played in the other two films.
• The animated credits were designed and drawn by Florica Vintilă. The assistant director was Ovidiu Drăgănescu.
• The unexpected origin of the series: Draga Olteanu Matei first came into contact with the world of The Freshmen while still in high school, when she performed in a play written by fellow student Petre Sălcudeanu, who would later become the series’ screenwriter.
• Long-standing stage partnership: In high school, in Sălcudeanu’s skit, Draga acted alongside Horia Brenciu’s father, considered at the time to be “the most talented in the school.”
• Chemistry with Marin Moraru: In the films, Draga Olteanu Matei and Marin Moraru play the couple Varvara and Toderaș. She called him “a fantastic partner”, with whom she collaborated throughout her life in multiple roles—he was her husband on screen and her son on stage.
• Mysterious departure: After The Freshman’s Winter, Marin Moraru refused—for unexplained reasons—to continue the series.
• Draga Olteanu Matei stated that she did not want to act without him. Draga Olteanu Matei stated that she did not want to play without him. Changed cast: Due to Moraru’s withdrawal and Draga’s solidarity, the third film in the series, The Freshmen’s Spring (1987), was made with a new team: Tamara Buciuceanu and Dumitru Rucăreanu.
• “It’s been a long time since then. I had a small role in The Freshmen’s Spring, but I was happy to play alongside Tamara Buciuceanu, whom I cared for and respected. We were colleagues at the Bulandra Theater and collaborated a lot on stage. I remember coming to the shoot from a trip. There was a cheerful atmosphere on set, which was natural, because I was working with a pleasant entourage and a director I admired. I rewatched the film some time ago and thought how pretty I was. Now, I can only see that smile in the corner of the mirror,” said beloved actress Tora Vasilescu. – tvri.tvr.ro
• “You would never have guessed that we weren’t from Transylvania. I had known Marin Moraru “all my life”. Marin was younger than me, but he was such a good, fantastic partner. The funny thing is that Marin was my husband in the series ” The Freshmen” and my son in a play at the theater. He was like a lot of relatives to me. When you’re a good actor, you can be enemies with someone, and it doesn’t even show on stage. But Marin Moraru was my friend, and after ” The Freshmen’s Winter,” I don’t know why, because I didn’t ask him, he didn’t want to act anymore. And if he gave up, when Mircea Moldovan came to me and told me he had to replace him, I asked him not to be upset, but without Marin Moraru as my partner, I wouldn’t play either.” said actress Draga Olteanu Matei. – tvri.tvr.ro
• The film was a huge success with audiences, attracting 1,796,410 viewers to Romanian cinemas, according to figures compiled by the National Film Centre on the number of viewers of Romanian films from the date of release until 31 December 2007.

LINES:

• “The next day I got drunk because I was getting married. What do you want? People don’t just drink when they’re happy.” – Toderaș (Dem Rădulescu)
• “You have to find the key to people, Ionuț.” – Badea Vasălie Gumă (Paul Lavric)
• “I came with Valjan! He’s always been ambitious! I think he feeds him clover.” – Ionuț (Horațiu Mălăele)
• “I told you, Varvara, our boy isn’t stupid!” – Toderaș (Dem Rădulescu)
• “I like to sip the juice, not like the gentlemen.” – Toderaș (Dem Rădulescu)
• “I gave the turkey rum to drink, and at his funeral I honored myself too.” – Varvara (Tamana Buciuceanu-Botez)
• “Don’t drink from the bottle, it’s not nice. We have glasses.” – Toderaș (Dem Rădulescu)
• “I can’t sleep and work at the same time.” – Niculina (Angela Ioan)”Listen, I can’t remember who was born first? You or me? I was little, I don’t remember.” – Ionuț (Horațiu Mălăele)
• “When I heard that I was going to be an agricultural engineer in the agricultural cooperative run by my mother, it was like a bomb went off in my head.” – Ionuț (Horațiu Mălăele)
• “The whole village is talking about how he came home with a donkey.” – Varvara (Tamana Buciuceanu-Botez)
• “My head is divided into four parts, one of which is amorphous, the one that deals with feelings.” – Ionuț (Horațiu Mălăele)
• “It’s one thing to hit the ground with a hoe and another to dig it.” – Ermolae (Dan Puric)
• “I couldn’t believe that these people buy tomatoes and cucumbers from the greengrocer.” – Ionuț (Horațiu Mălăele)
• “I would ask you to pretend to give me an injection against rabies.” – Ionuț (Horațiu Mălăele)
• The disease of the earth? I suffer from this disease too. My father suffered from it as well. – Toderaș (Dem Rădulescu)
• “Take an apple, it has potassium. That’s why Eve gave Adam an apple, otherwise she would have given him a plum.” – Savetuța Ilfov (Anda Onesa)
• “I will be the most serious and sober engineer in Viișoara and have the happiest wife.” – Ionuț (Horațiu Mălăele)

ARTICLES:

• Behind the scenes of the film ” The Freshmen’s Spring” – tvr.ro
• And with a freshman comes spring – aarc.ro
• The Freshmen’s Spring – tvr.ro
• Romanian theater and films: The “Freshmen” series (1975, 1977, 1985) – agerpres.ro
• Draga Olteanu Matei: “I have a special connection to the Freshmen series, long before the films were made” – evz.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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