Graduation

A film set in a provincial Romanian city. Romeo is a doctor. A few days before her final examinations, his daughter Eliza is attacked near the school. She is injured and shaken. The examination matters: her scholarship to a university in England depends on a certain average. The father has been making this plan for years; he chose to stay in the country himself and does not want her to. Eliza is in no condition to sit the exam and her marks look likely to fall. Romeo starts looking for a solution. One acquaintance leads to another: an official, an invigilator, a place on a transplant list. The film shows that chain step by step. At no stage is there an open bribe; everyone does a favour and expects one back. At the same time Romeo's own life is coming apart: his marriage is over, he is having an affair and his daughter knows. What the narrative asks is this: what has a father taught when, to save his daughter, he does the opposite of exactly what he was teaching. Adrian Titieni plays Romeo and Maria Dragus plays Eliza. Cristian Mungiu directed and took the best director prize at Cannes for it. A strong production for anyone who likes Romanian cinema and narratives of moral deadlock. For a viewer expecting a clear resolution, the film closes no doors.