WHO’S CALLING ME? (1979) – drama film online

Directed by: Letiția Popa
Script by: Rodica Padina
Cast: Marioara Sterian, Iulian Vișa, Dinu Manolache, Tora Vasilescu, Tatiana Iekel, Marius Ionescu, George Șofrag, Marietta Rareș, Constantin Florescu, Lucia Ștefănescu, Eusebiu Ștefănescu, Lucia Cristian, Cornel Revent, Radu Mihăileanu, Rodica Sanda Țuțuianu
Producer: Adrian Caracaș, Silvia Kerim
Cinematography by: Mihai Popescu
Edited by: Iulia Vincenz
Sound: Alexandru Ureche
Music: Mircea Florian
Year: 1979
Category: Feature film
Genre: Drama
Duration: 91 minutes

PLOT SUMMARY

Ina (Marioara Sterian), a 19-year-old girl accused of “immoral behavior,” is sent to a construction site for “re-education”, where she befriends two older women, learns to integrate into a community, and finds her own way.

CRITICAL REVIEWS:

“The director goes beyond conformist motivation, the formation of the new man on the socialist construction site, through realistic and humorous marginal notes.” – Tudor Caranfil

“The film is certainly worthy of attention.” – Natalia Stancu

“A feminist film about the condition of women seen from within, that is, by those who have experienced firsthand what emancipation, loneliness, love, despair, and much more mean.” – Cristina Corciovescu, Volk und Kultur magazine, March 1980

“The script started from a promising idea. Namely, to capture women at three moments in their lives, using protagonists who could represent stages of one and the same destiny. One is very young — only 19 — but with impressive experience in relationships with the opposite sex, which led her (no one knows how) to the dock and then to a construction site for re-education. The second is young – in her twenties or thirties; for her, the age of folly is over (if she ever experienced it), she feels the need for order and discipline and tries to build a home with the one she loves and who is her workmate. The third – past her first youth – is the living image of disappointment and loneliness due, she confesses, to a disordered life, although it could just as well be the consequence of her failure to get close to the man she loves.” – Cristina Corciovescu, Volk und Kultur magazine, March 1980

“It is also true that “Who’s Calling Me?” is not a flawless film. The beginning is slow to get going, creaking along. The ending suddenly descends into a pathos reminiscent of films from the 1950s. The middle hides here and there the spots of the disease called cinematic conformism. The director covers them up, hides them, the cameraman films them beautifully, the editor cuts them to the bone. In vain. They remain visibly victorious because they are part of the theme and the plot. No, “Who’s Calling Me?” does not make a dent in the sky of our cinema, but if it is — and it is — better, that is, more alive, more appealing, more engaging than its siblings in the genre called current affairs, this is certainly not due to its feminine specificity, but to the desire and power to pierce, at least here and there, with a sharper, more comprehensive, more colorfully virulent gaze, the thick wall of our cinematic monotony.” – Eva Sîrbu, “Cinema” magazine no. 1, January 1980

“There is something fascinating, even moving, about this relaxed female character, whose naturalness and spontaneity become increasingly pale when confronted with the rigid norms of a society that does not accept any kind of deviation (at one point, even among the scaffolding, the foreman makes her wipe off her mascara, and to add to her humiliation, he offers her his own handkerchief to do so — Mărioara Sterian’s face then expresses the entire condition of women on the construction sites of the country) – Ionuț Mareș, cinepub.ro

“Without any innovative ambitions or intentions to challenge the official discourse in any way, “Who’s Calling Me?” is nevertheless a more ingenious cinematic work than the premise might suggest – one can sense Letiția Popa’s desire and effort to break free from the limitations inherent in a topical film and make her feminist voice heard. That’s no small feat.” – Ionuț Mareș, cinepub.ro

TRIVIA:

• Letiția Popa is a director born on July 9, 1936, in Bucharest. She studied at the “I.L. Caragiale” Institute of Theater and Cinematographic Art (class of 1956).
• Alongside Petre Sava Băleanu, Ion Barna, Cornel Todea, and Nicolae Motriv, he was one of the founders of Romanian television theater and one of the most talented local TV theater directors.
• Over time, Letiția Popa collaborated with most of the leading actors in the capital, but also with actors from the provinces, working alongside set designers Armand Crintea, Vasile Rotaru, Lucu Andreescu, Georgeta Itigan, as well as Teodora Dinulescu and Doina Lenvința, her most frequent collaborators (all employees of Romanian National Television – TVR).
• In the 1970s, she worked at the Animafilm Studio until the 1980s, when she settled in the United States.
• In the United States, the director mainly made documentary films, but also fiction films (in collaboration), under the name Letitia Popa Schwartz.
• She also directed two plays, Edward Albee’s American Dream and Joshua Sobol’s Ghetto Cabaret. The latter, staged at the L.A. Jewish Theatre in 2002, attracted particular attention from critics and was well received.
• The only film with which she managed to stand out in America is Skid Row Artists’ Humble Beauty, shot together with Judith Vogelsang in 2008.
• She was married to Californian painter (of Mexican origin) Enrique Marquez. She is survived by only one son, Toader (Ted) Micu.
• The film “Who’s Calling Me?” was seen by 1,759,609 viewers in Romanian cinemas, according to data compiled by the National Center for Cinematography on the number of viewers recorded by Romanian films from their premiere date until December 31, 2014.

LINES:

 • “Instead of educating her, I’d rather take her as my wife. After all, she can wash a shirt or prepare a meal!” – Vasile (Dinu Manolache)
• “Don’t let me catch you flirting with this girl!” – Head of the team (Constantin Florescu)
• “We needed girls on the team…” – Picu (Marius Ionescu)
• “It’s the first time in my life I’ve made tea by myself.” – Ina (Marioara Sterian)
• “You don’t have to confide in me.” – Anica (Tora Vasilescu)
• “If you keep staring at that, I’ll mess up her hair.” – Anica (Tora Vasilescu)
• “Here, it always rains and the Barbu Lăutaru Orchestra plays!” – Ina (Marioara Sterian)
• “I’m going out to get a breath of fog.” – Ina (Marioara Sterian)
• “We have TV, movies, dance nights, radio, and a library. How can you be bored?!” – Anica (Tora Vasilescu)
• “I want to listen to good music. I want to go out.” – Ina (Marioara Sterian)
• “I’m tired of getting up at 5 a.m., making myself ugly, working at something I don’t like!” – Ina (Marioara Sterian)
• “You have no idea what I can be like when something’s not right.” – Anica (Tora Vasilescu)
• “Listen to this guy, he knows about girls! Boil her!” – Vasile (Dinu Manolache)
• “Is that how you treat everyone?” – Tudor (Iulian Vișa)

ARTICLES:

• Review: “Who’s Calling Me?” by Cristina Corciovescu – aarc.ro
• Review: “Who’s Calling Me?” by Eva Sîrbu – aarc.ro
• “The Dowry” and “Who’s Calling Me?” on Romanian Film Sunday – film.tvr.ro
• Popa, Letiția – dmtr.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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