4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days ''4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days'' ( ro, 4 luni, 3 săptămâni și 2 zile) is a 2007 Romanian art film written and directed by Cristian Mungiu and starring Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, and Vlad Ivanov. The film is set in Socialist Republic o ...

'' is a 2007 Romanian

art film An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

written and directed by

Cristian Mungiu Cristian Mungiu (; born 27 April 1968) is a Romanian filmmaker. He won the Palme d'Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival for his film '' 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days'', which he wrote and directed. He has also won the awards for Best Screenplay and ...

, starring

Anamaria Marinca Anamaria Marinca (born 1 April 1978) is a Romanian actress. She made her screen debut with the Channel 4 film ''Sex Traffic'', for which she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress. Marinca is also known for her performance in ...

, Laura Vasiliu and

Vlad Ivanov Vlad Ivanov (; born Vladimir Ivanov , 4 August 1969) is a Romanian actor of Lipovan , flag = Flag of the Lipovans.png , flag_caption = Flag of the Lipovans , image = Evstafiev-lipovane-slava-cherkeza.jpg , caption = Lipovans during a c ...

. The film is set in

Communist Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist One-party state, one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the s ...

in the final years of the

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He was ...

era. It tells the story of two students, roommates in a university dormitory, who try to procure an

illegal abortion Abortion laws vary widely among countries and territories, and have changed over time. Such laws range from abortion being freely available on request, to regulation or restrictions of various kinds, to outright prohibition in all circumstances ...

. After making its world premiere on the first day at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

in May 2007, it won three awards, including the ''

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

''. Mungiu became the first Romanian filmmaker to win the ''Palme d'Or'', the festival's highest honour. Later, it became the first Romanian work to receive the

European Film Award for Best Film European Film Award for Best Film is one of the annual European Film Awards, presented by the European Film Academy to recognize the best in european filmmaking. It was first awarded in 1988 with Polish film ''A Short Film About Killing'', directe ...

. It also won Best Film at Romania's national

Gopo Awards The Gopo Awards ( ro, Premiile Gopo) are the national Romanian film awards, similar to the Academy Awards (US), the Goya Awards (Spain), or the César Award (France). They are presented by the Association for Romanian Film Promotion and were inaug ...

. Despite competing for the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

, ''4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days'' was not shortlisted, creating controversy among critics and online film fans, as it had won the ''Palme d'Or''. The controversy caused an

Academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

member to pledge nomination reform, though the category had often sparked criticism. Mungiu later said the omission and subsequent furor brought the picture substantial publicity, and that the experience taught him that critics and festival juries have differing tastes from the Academy.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days Lists of accolades by film