Award Winning ‘Child’s Pose’ Premieres in Romania

This week, Romanian movie theaters have premiered the most awaited movie of the year, ‘Childs Pose, the winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale.

România Internațional, 16.03.2013, 17:55

This week, Romanian movie theaters have premiered the most awaited movie of the year, ‘Child’s Pose’, the winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale. The film, directed by Calin Peter Netzer, has gained a life of its own, being among the most sought after acquisitions the world over. Sales are managed by Beta Cinema from Germany, and is being distributed not just all over Europe, but also in Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan, before going to the US and to the UK. This is Netzer’s third feature film after his much appreciated and multiple award winners Maria (2003) and Medal of Honor (2010). The film speaks in dramatic, emotional, but also humorous terms of the traumas felt by children suffocated by a parent’s love and the imprints left on a child’s personality by parents. At the same time, the film is an X-ray of today’s high society and about influence peddling and corruption in today’s Romanian society. The script was written by Razvan Radulescu and by film director, Calin Peter Netzer.

Speaking at the Bucharest premiere, lead actress Luminita Gheorghiu said that emotions ran much higher when facing the domestic audience. ‘This is the first contact we have with the audience here, people you meet in the street. This is where we live, where we work. Every time I have a premiere at home I get very nervous. I meet people in the street, and I would like to look at them in the eyes and have them say ‘It’s great you did this movie!’ ‘. Here she is herself talking about the movie:

“I think Romanian filmmakers are at the moment of their confession. I remember the point at which I got tired of Italian Neo-realism, of the dire poverty depicted in their movies. I think Romanian filmmakers are at that point. As Cristi Puiu said, we should not be putting makeup on reality. And this is reality. Of course there are happy things going on in Romania nowadays, but I don’t understand why Romanian directors are blamed for making movies out of everyday life stories. Getting back to ‘Child’s Pose’, I admit I’ve been selfish. I realized that I was looking at a very good script, that I was offered a part with negative aspects, that it was a big role. It was such a good script that I understood it from the first reading, and it offered me a lot of data about my character. I am very happy I was given such an opportunity.”

Bodgan Dumitrache plays the role of a son who tries to break away from a possessive mother.

“First I have to understand what is going on and the things that my character has to deal with. I cannot reconstruct the character’s emotional range otherwise. Every single time, I try to reconstruct the context and take it deeper, so I can understand what is happening. Every time I work with a new director, his work style influences me, motivates me and takes me in certain directions. Getting back to ‘Child’s Pose’, I think this love-hate relationship between mother and son goes on. What I personally loved about Calin’s film is that in a story spanning three days you can feel the 30 years of relationship. And you understand where the conflicts between them stem from. It’s true that we make a snapshot of an extreme moment, where relations are extreme, where terrible things are said, but these are things that have stacked up over time.”

Luminita Gheorghiu and Bodgan Dumitrache, playing the mother and the son, are joined by a choice range of supporting actors. Supporting actress Natasa Raab was asked if Western audiences could get a negative image of Romania out of this movie:

“I don’t think that what happens in the movie sketches a negative image, this could have been anywhere in the world. The story is not specifically Romanian, accidents will happen anywhere. I think it’s a slice of life, a universal story, and I think the way in which it was told in the film was what won us the award at the Berlinale. In addition, compared to other Romanian movies, this one also shows us the life of the nouveau riche after the Revolution, it is not in the minimalist genre that we all got used to. This, I think, is the great merit of this movie, that anyone, from any part of the world, can understand it.”

Director Calin Netzer also spoke about the movie, saying, quote: “My intention was for this psycho-drama to be appealing to the audience, because the situations and characters are such that many can identify with them, even though it is a tougher movie, harder to digest, with a lot of tension. I don’t think we make the audience suffer. I think that it was somehow psychologically rewarding. It’s not a short term effect movie, a feel good movie, it is a movie with medium and long term effects. I don’t think it will change people’s lives, but it raises questions, and it may be therapeutic, unquote.”