Synopsis
Foreword: It is radical and it is a gesture of true irreverence what Caranfil does here, attacking, more in jest, more seriously, the commodification of the spirit, the fetishization of consumption, of objects and of the human spirit within the upper class. The twist is in fact a different one, an elevated goatee from which it emerges that the most rotten souls are those soaked in bourgeois formula, incapable of leading a truly high existence and vehemently refusing to adhere to the new pop values. Especially since he seems to do it out of love. (cinepub.ro)
Directed by: Nae Caranfil
Script: Nae Caranfil after a text by Teodor Mazilu
Cast: Dorina Lazăr, Dan Condurache, Cristina Țopescu, Alexandru Georgescu, Ion Roxin, Radu Iordănescu, Vasile Moisescu, Mihai Marta, Marius Bindea, Marius Bindea, Sandu Gruia, Florian Pittiș
Producer: U.N.A.T.C. „I.L. Caragiale”, București
Cinematography by: Cristian Comeagă
Year: 1983
Category: short film
Genre: Drama
Duration: 20 minutes
8,122 – Cinepub viewers
PLOT SUMMARY
A man and a woman, eager for happiness and romance, encounter the desired reality, but fail to recognize it, preferring to take refuge in a space on the border between the concrete world and dreaming.
REVIEWS:
“If I had to characterize it in just a few words, I would say: the Romanians’ «L’année dernière à Marienbad».” – Mihai Gîndu
“In a sumptuous setting, painted in black and white, with hypnotic lights and dizzying shots, two people – a man and a woman – intersect, who, somewhat like Resnais’ characters, enter into a sublime game of chance and memories, in which the stakes transcend the ordinary.” – Mihai Gîndu
“I don’t know how these words were received in 1983, but what is certain is that in 2020 they are profound, penetrating and topical.” – Mihai Gîndu
“Nae Caranfil’s «Venice is beautiful in September» (which turned our thoughts – the director’s and mine – to Alain Resnais’ «Last Year at Marienbad») is part of this soul list, which means, in other words, that ever since 1984, I have felt the author as an emissary of a new Romanian cinema, which will become a reality in the next decade.” – Călin Căliman
TRIVIA:
- “Venice is beautiful in September” is the director’s graduation film, with which he won awards in the country and abroad (Bucharest, Tours, Turin).
- The film is an adaptation of the play of the same name written by Teodor Mazilu.
LINES:
“Unfortunately, all the shops are full of trashy things.” – The Woman (Dorina Lazăr)
“Do you know the Marienbad game?” – The man (Dan Condurache)
“I thought I saw it in a movie, didn’t I?” – The Woman (Dorina Lazăr)
“You have won Venice and lost the nostalgia of Venice. It’s the way it’s always been. We lose the dream and get reality instead.” – The Man (Dan Condurache)
“Isn’t it all going to be beautiful in the memory?” – The Woman (Dorina Lazăr)
“You will see how witty you will find our conversation in ten years.” – The Man (Dan Condurache)
“Although I’m in Venice, I realize I can’t give up hope of seeing Venice.” – The Woman (Dorina Lazăr)
“I am a being predisposed towards poetry, my life is made up of aspirations, not realities.” – The Woman (Dorina Lazăr)
“Venice is one thing, ma’am, and the state in which you are struggling is another!” -The Man (Dan Condurache)
“Oh, this damned state! Could we not pass straight into memory?” – The Woman (Dorina Lazăr)
“The truth is hidden in little things.” – The Man (Dan Condurache)
“You’re the first man I love in the present!” – The Woman (Dorina Lazăr)
“I love you, ma’am! You are the ideal woman! But I need to aspire to the ideal woman!” – The Man (Dan Condurache)
“We always speak of Venice as a land of dreams, of our eternal dreams.” – Narrator (Florian Pittis)
ARTICLES:
- Beautiful in September in Venice (Nae Caranfil, 1983) – blogdefilm.ro
- DOCUMENTARY: Director and screenwriter Nae (Nicolae) Caranfil turns 60 (September 7) – agerpres.ro
- Director Nae Caranfil after 30 years – contemporanul.ro
- “White Night of Romanian Film” is dedicated in June to director Nae Caranfil – news.ro
