R.M.N.
Cristian Mungiu, Romania, 2022o
Shortly before Christmas, Matthias returns from Germany to his Romanian home village to take more care of his angst-ridden young son and his elderly father. He also wants to see his ex-girlfriend Csilla again, who now runs a small factory. When new workers from Sri Lanka are to be hired there, the supposedly peaceful village is thrown into turmoil: why bring in foreigners when the locals already have too little work?
What do we expect from cinema? That it gives us news of the world, at least, for those who no longer watch television. Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu (winner of the 2007 Cannes Palme d'Or for 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days) gets the message loud and clear in R.M.N., which takes the pulse of contemporary Europe. The setting: a multi-ethnic village in Transylvania. The characters: a worker who has fled his job in Germany, the assistant of a company director about to hire two Sri Lankan employees, a Frenchman commissioned by the European Union to study the biodiversity of Romania's forests. The context: today's neoliberal Europe and the identity movements that are proliferating across the continent. The final scene - a village assembly, where the fate of the Sri Lankan workers is decided - is filmed in such masterly single shot that we are left to wonder whether, after all, cinema is still the best language in which to speak about reality.
Émilien GürR.M.N. est une œuvre complexe et politique, qui entre en résonance avec son temps et pousse le spectateur à s’interroger et prendre part aux grands enjeux de notre époque.
Léo OrtunoEn donnant naissance à une famille décomposée au cœur d’un village de la Transylvanie, Cristian Mungiu décrit avec force la déchirure d’un pays qui s’abandonne au racisme et au nationalisme. Un film sidérant.
Laurent CambonAvec son naturalisme qui parfois tutoie l’étrange, voire le fantastique, ses dialogues brillamment écrits et son interprétation convaincante, la fable sociale sombre et complexe que Cristian Mungiu signe s’avère une fascinante expérience.
Baptiste ThionGalleryo
