THE PALE LIGHT OF SORROW (1980) – drama film online

Directed by: Iulian Mihu
Script: George Macovescu
Cast: Liliana Tudor, Gheorghe Marin, Violeta Andrei, Florina Lucian, Siegfrid Siegmund, Emanoil Petruț, Florin Rarău, Andrei Finți, Maria Bodor, Ana Stoica, Ioana Popescu, Alida Colceag, Alexandru Racoviceanu, Ruxandra Macovescu, Gerard Kwanka, Coca Enescu, Gheorghe Bedivan, Gheorghe Novac, Andrei Șonea, Savel Știopul, Geo Saizescu
Producer: Atanasie Toma
Cinematography by: Gabor Tarko
Edited by: Elena Pașca
Sound: Dan Ionescu
Music: Dorin Liviu Zaharia, Ludovic Feldman, Antonio Vivaldi, Hector Berlioz
Year: 1980
Category: Feature film
Genre: Drama
Duration: 140 minutes

25,528 – Cinepub viewers

PLOT SUMMARY

Summer 1913, in a village near Buzău. Ionică, the teacher’s son, witnesses the hard life of the poor villagers. War is approaching and his landless neighbors have to work 16 hours a day at the oil wells for miserable wages. Is there any hope for them?

AWARDS

• 1980 – ACIN – Award for Best Director
• 1981 – Moscow International Film Festival (12th edition) – Special Diploma

CRITICAL REVIEWS:

“Sometimes, our national cinema produces films of international value. Original in every respect.” – D.I. Suchianu, “România literară”, 1980

“Our film is a portrait. A portrait of Pain. Of a general, collective, permanent pain. It is the pain of the Romanian village.” – D.I. Suchianu, “România literară”, 1980

“The Pale Light of Sorrow” is the first Romanian film in which the mioritic space is felt, in the sense that Lucian Blaga had in mind. The film depicts an authentic village, a ‘non-folklorized’ image of rural life, which forms the basis of the aesthetic construction of screenwriter George Macovescu and director Iulian Mihu”. – Călin Căliman, istoriafilmuluiromanesc.ro

“The seemingly heterogeneous cast of the film is one of the ‘strong points’ of the artistic approach. Liliana Tudor delivers a truly gem of a performance in the role of Lina, a character who symbolises and ‘materialises’ in images the very ‘pale light of pain’ that gives the film its title. The ‘occasional’ actress (who is actually a genius ballerina) creates one of the most convincing female characters in the history of Romanian cinema”. – Călin Căliman, istoriafilmuluiromanesc.ro

“In ‘The Pale Light of Sorrow’, the nobility of the Romanian peasant is embodied in two young women and a teenage boy. Death hangs over every day. Death from starvation, disease, accidents. But death is viewed without fear. Courage in the face of death is, in fact, an ancient legacy. The Getae believed that death does not interrupt life, but prolongs it.” – D.I. Suchianu, “România literară,” 1980)

“The Pale Light of Sorrow” refers, through its title, to one of the masterpieces of Japanese cinema: “Tales of a Pale and Mysterious Moon after the Rain” by Kenji Mizoguchi. – Marian Rădulescu, agenda.liternet.ro

“(…) a mixture of tragedy and humor, of the grotesque and purity, of realism and false and treacherously idyllic poetry.” – Eva Sârbu

Gabor Tarko’s image, a “perfect combination of colors, shapes, and lights”. – Cristina Corciovescu

“Set during World War I in a village in the Buzău region, the film has clear affinities with the more famous “Stone Wedding” (1973, Mircea Veroiu and Dan Pița) and “Lust for Gold” (1974, Mircea Veroiu and Dan Pița), both visually, where cinematographer Gábor Tarko constructs — to a certain extent — in tableaux, like Iosif Demian, and sonically, as Dorin Liviu Zaharia’s music accompanies all three films.” – Andrei Rus, cinepub.ro

“Mihu seems closer here to the modernism of French cinema du look and the captivating imagery of German filmmakers Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Werner Herzog than any other Romanian director of his generation.” – Andrei Rus, cinepub.ro

“For anyone familiar with his entire filmography — and especially with his two post-December works, particularly the allegorical camp musical “Băiatul cu o singură bretea” (1991), which I bet will soon be rediscovered with interest by a new generation of cinephiles passionate about eccentricities — it is clear that his artistic inclination tends toward episodic and fragmentary constructions and that, in essence, he is a filmmaker who conceived his works very much sequentially, rather than globally.” — Andrei Rus, cinepub.ro

TRIVIA:

• Screenwriter George Macovescu stated for “The Summer Cinema Magazine” (1984) that the role of the teacher on her deathbed in the film was inspired by the sad story of his sick mother who, thirsty, suffered in bed while her child George was outside playing: “In the film ‘The Pale Light of Sorrow’, the old woman who is preparing to die is thirsty. She is lying in bed. She is alone, there is no one else in the house. On a table next to her is a jug of water. The old woman reaches out her hand, tries to grab it, but the jug tips over and the water spills out. And then, struggling, she gets out of bed and crawls across the floor toward the bucket in the corner of the room, moaning and uttering a single word from her dry throat, repeating it over and over: water, water… I thought of my mother and the events of long ago when I wrote the role of the teacher.” (G.M.)
• Like the old woman character, Lina’s character is also inspired by a beautiful girl from the screenwriter’s childhood village: “This girl existed and remained in my memory, as seen through the eyes of the child I was then. But the character in the film, with all her drama, is the result of a combination of traits observed in other peasant women and stories heard much later, which are said to have taken place in a mountain village in Moldova.” (G.M.)
• Malvina Urșianu, director and colleague, stated in Cinema magazine (no. 11/1980), about Iulian Mihu: “Rarely has a filmmaker teased his supporters more, putting them through all the states and temperatures of surprise. It is time that, after this long spiritual exercise, we get used to the mood swings, the rush of ideas, and the effervescence of this gifted filmmaker. He remains interesting in his successes as well as in his failures, and if we can be objective for a moment, we must admit that what was sometimes considered a failure is recorded as a success by others. It’s a matter of perspective. (…) Our generation, but also those that follow, owe Iulian Mihu this benchmark of feverish searching, which reminds us all that we must not rust in formulas and prejudices, we owe him the ferment of restlessness that he instills in each of us, we owe him the fact that, without him, let’s all admit it, friends and less-than-friends, our cinema would be more monotonous and sad.” (M.U.)
• From Iulian Mihu’s filmography, you can also watch on CINEPUB: “Life Does Not Forgive” (1957), “Felix and Otilia” (1972), and the documentary by Laurențiu Damian, “About Iulian Mihu as He Was. About Us as We Are” (2009).

LINES:

• “You’re not dead, Ana. (…) You’re a bastard, you lied to me. Give me Ion’s glasses and the letter.” – Savasta (Eugenia Șonea)
• “You said you were dying, and look, you’re blooming! And how long am I supposed to wait?” – Savasta (Eugenia Șonea)
• “Neither David nor Goliath were kings, but Goliath was an invincible giant. And Goliath walked around dressed in armor. He had a sword and a spear, and David was very young, like a shepherd’s son. Goliath had fought many wars.” – Tudora (Marietta Rareș)
• “It is not the strongest who wins, but the most righteous.” – Tudora (Marietta Rareș)
• “A wooden church? I was told it was a normal church.” – The Priest (Emanoil Petruț)
• “No fruit is so sour that it cannot ripen with time.” – Ionică (Gheorghe Marin)
• “Let all the people come and give the Church and its servants all that is due to the Church and its servants.” – Priest (Emanoil Petruț)

ARTICLES:

• “The Pale Light of Sorrow,” film review by Călin Căliman – istoriafilmuluiromanesc.ro
• “The Pale Light of Sorrow,” film review by D.I. Suchianu – aarc.ro
• “I thought about them when I wrote The Pale Light of Sorrow” – aarc.ro
• Iulian Mihu, between calophilia and derision – agenda.liternet.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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