Scarred Hearts

In 1937 Emanuel, in his early twenties, is diagnosed with bone tuberculosis and admitted to a sanatorium on the Black Sea coast. His body is set in plaster, he is moved on a wheeled bed, and from then on his life is lived horizontally. Radu Jude adapted it from what Max Blecher wrote out of his own illness. It is not a recovery story; the patients flirt, quarrel, argue politics, and the rise of fascism in Romania seeps into the conversations. The camera barely moves and the frame is in the ratio of an old photograph. The strength is in showing illness as a life being lived rather than a tragic exception. Who it is for: viewers who like Romanian cinema and formally severe period films. Who it is not for: anyone wanting pace, since this is almost motionless for two and a half hours.