THE RETURN OF KING LĂPUȘNEANU (1980) – historic movie online

Directed by: Malvina Urșianu
Script: Malvina Urșianu
Cast: George Motoi, Silvia Popovici, Cornel Coman, Valeiu Paraschiv, Eugenia Bosânceanu, Melania Ursu, Ion Niciu, Eusebiu Ștefănescu, Mihail Vasile Boghiță, Gheorghe Buznea, Dumitru Crăciun, Ion Crăciun, Mircea Cruceanu, Nicolae Dide, Valeria Gagealov, Silvia Ghelan, Cornel Ispas
Producers: House of movies 3 (Eugen Mandric, Dumitru Solomon)
Cinematography by: Gheorghe Fischer, Alexandru Întorsureanu
Edited by: Margareta Anescu
Sound: Anașuvan Salamanian
Music: Anatol Vieru
Year: 1980
Category: Feature film
Genre: Drama, Historic film
Duration: 141 minutes

97,722 – Cinepub viewers

PLOT SUMMARY

Moldavia, 1564. Alexandru Lăpușneanu, the last descendant of the Musatin dynasty, which had ruled the country a few years earlier, returns from exile imposed by the treachery of his boyars. Determined to form a united Moldavia, with the power concentrated in his hands to put an end once and for all to the differences between the boyars, the king will have to face the opposition of aristocrats attracted by the theft and treachery.

AWARDS:

• 1980 – ACIN – Grand Prize
• 1980 – Chicago International Film Festival – Best Film Nomination

CRITICAL REVIEWS:

“The director has only worked on her own scripts; she practices an authoritarian style of directing, in which the actor is reshaped in the image and likeness of the character, and the lines are immovable and sacrosanct. This way of working with a strong hand has made it necessary to create a body of faithful interpreters, with whom Malvina Urșianu will always work again and again: George Motoi, Silvia Popovici, Gina Patrichi.” – Vladimir Crețulescu (Film Menu magazine, September 2010)

“The ecranization after Costache Negruzzi’s short story takes a polemical position in relation to the literary work: the character of Lăpușneanu (masterfully played by George Motoi) is not entirely negative from the very beginning – he starts out well-meaning, but circumstances and a certain kind of relationship to the world push him towards madness and increasingly reprehensible acts. The character of Moțoc, on the other hand, is also not the flat, one-sided lecher that Negruzzi portrays. Moțoc is a skillful politician, a thinker, not without ambitions, of course, but also endowed with his own code of ethics, his own moral convictions.” – Vladimir Crețulescu (Film Menu magazine, September 2010)

“Malvina Urșianu’s movie also shines in the scenography and cinematography. The interiors of Suceava Princely Fortress are outlined in a minimalist way – no excess adornments, just the bare essentials. The bare masonry of the arches and walls, amplified by the eerie, reddish or yellowish lighting, creates a tense, oppressive atmosphere, perfectly in keeping with the theme of the movie. Empty spaces, with little furniture, semi-dark, hostile… there is an affinity here with the huge, cold halls of a Charles Foster Kane’s palace.” – Vladimir Crețulescu (Film Menu magazine, September 2010)

“Unlike many of the films of yesterday, seen today, “The Return of King Lăpușneanu”, the only historical film of Malvina Urșianu’s creation, did not need to be distanced in time to be perceived as different in the so rattling landscape of what has been emphatically called “the national cinematographic epic”. From the very beginning, Moțoc, a character far from being descended from the model of Negruzzi’s banality of fire (and physically, in Valeriu Paraschiv’s interpretation, he has a completely different appearance, strange, handsome, a damned man destined to remain in the shadow of the great ones), Moțoc, as I was saying, orders that the return to the second reign of Lăpușneanu should not be greeted with great celebratory gesticulation: “Let the bells be silent! Let the trumpets stop too!'” – Magda Mihăilescu

TRIVIA

• “The Return of King Lăpușneanu” is the director’s only historical film.
• Her intention to make this movie was not very well seen: “Some people were frightened that I had started a historical movie. How? A woman? But a battle scene is constructed in the same way as a ball scene, you don’t have to be an army general, it’s still a mise-en-scène, the rules are the same” (Malvina Urșianu)
• In 1986, when it was shown on the screen, the movie was abruptly interrupted by Lăpușneanu’s line “The country doesn’t want me? Who ever asked the country what it wants?”.
• The stuntman Adrian Ștefănescu remembers the funny reason why it was necessary to reschedule the movie: “It was about the banquet scene to which King Lăpușneanu invited the boyars, and then he “slaughtered” them. I remember that we were starving that day, and there were suckling pigs on the table that made your mouth water. Still waiting for the movie to be set up, we started tasting the food. One ear, one tail, one bacon, but when Mrs. Malvina was ready to say “Action!” all that was left on the table were the bones. Obviously there was a big scandal, it was not possible to film at all, and the next day they brought in some prop pigs, no one took any chances with the real ones.”
• Filming began on April 24, 1978, in an old existing set from the film “Vlad Țepeș“, in Buftea, and continued until June 18, 1979, in Brașov, Târgu Neamț, Iași, Rădăuți, Feldioara, Hunedoara, Hârșova and Brăila, with production costs amounting to 14.262.000 lei.

LINES

“Execution. And as soon as possible. (…) If they don’t want me, I want them!” – Alexandru Lăpușneanu (George Motoi)

“From now on, I command in Moldavia!” – Alexandru Lăpușneanu (George Motoi)

“The daughters of a king do not marry when their time comes, but when the time comes for the country to marry them.” – Mrs. Ruxandra (Silvia Popovici)

“I can’t sell them my horses. It’s like selling my soldiers.” – Alexandru Lăpușneanu (George Motoi)

“The reign of King Alexandru began as any reign must begin; he conquered the throne by himself.” – Mrs. Ruxandra (Silvia Popovici)

“A righteous reign is inherited. Where would we be if every man armed with a sword and followed by a squad of mercenaries conquered a throne?” – Mrs. Elena (Eugenia Bosânceanu)

“There’s only one danger you cannot protect me from, Lord. From the danger inside you.” – Mrs. Ruxandra (Silvia Popovici)

“Mercy and love would be a weakness today.” – Alexandru Lăpușneanu (George Motoi)

“We, rulers, cannot have vain ambitions.” – Mrs. Chiajna (Melania Ursu)

“If he has a hundred thousand men, I have a woman’s head that is worth as much as all his men.” – Mrs. Chiajna (Melania Ursu)

“Tell me, what happens in Moldavia when there is no war?”
“It’s peace.”
“What’s it like when there’s peace?”
“How can it be… People work. They plow and sow, build churches and houses, take care of cattle and bees, trade and do various crafts. But the time is so short that no one ever catches its flavor.” – Bogdan Lăpușneanu (Daniel Bucurescu) and Tomșa (Dan Nuțu)

ARTICLES

• The Return of King Lăpușneanu – filmmenu.ro
• “Behind the Scenes”. How director Malvina Urșianu was forced to stay away from the sets for ten years – adevarul.ro
• The return of King Lăpușneanu – sansebastianfestival.com
• In memoriam Malvina Urșnianu on TVR 2: “Fleeting Loves” and “The Return of King Lăpușneanu” – mariustuca.ro
• In memory of a Great Lady of the screen, Malvina Urșianu – cotidianul.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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