Romanian New Wave writer-director Cristian Mungiu has been called the contemporary Ingmar Bergman or Carl Theodor Dreyer, and with each passing film, this praise is increasingly well-earned. Mungiu received international raves for his 2007 breakthrough movie "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," in which a woman is seeking an illegal abortion with the help of her friend during the final days of the Ceausescu Communist-era regime. In his follow-up to that masterpiece, Mungiu is looking again at a relationship between two very different women in "Beyond the Hills," released by Criterion on Blu-ray DVD. It's based on BBC Bucharest bureau chief Tatiana Niculscu Bran's report and later nonfiction novel about a 2005 exorcism in a remote Moldavian monastery. Mungiu has refashioned these notorious events into a dark folk-tale enveloped in documentary realism, with a searing critique of Romanian social institutions.
Voichita (Cosmina Stratan) comes to the train station to greet her arriving friend Alina (Cristina Flutur). They grew up together in a local orphanage, with Alina being the protector. It's clear there was a physical component to their relationship, but upon their reunion Voichita is embarrassed by Alina's open and passionate affection. After a prolonged stay in Germany, Alina is returning to take Voichita back there to work as a waitress on a cruise ship. But Voichita has joined a poor Orthodox farm-like convent (with no electricity, and water from a well) run by an ascetic moralistic priest called Papa (Valeriu Andriuta), who rants and raves about the spiritual bankruptcy of the West: "Nothing sacred, everything is allowed [including same-sex marriage]." She still loves Alina, but differently, not like before, as "it can't compare to the love of God," which she now puts first. The convent has become the family she's been seeking, and she will never be alone again.
Hoping to reactivate their relationship, Alina stays at the convent. She is encouraged by both Voichita and Papa to go to confession after being read from a book listing 464 possible sins (Mungiu's satire here). Alina suspects Voichita is having a sexual relationship with Papa, and becomes increasingly emotionally unstable. She will unsuccessfully attempt suicide by jumping down a well. She's taken to a hospital where the doctor suspects she may be a paranoid schizophrenic, but due to overcrowding and bureaucratic paperwork, sends her back to the convent to recover in a "stress-free" environment. Alina worsens over time, becoming increasingly disruptive with violent outbursts. Fearing for her safety and theirs, the other nuns and Papa suspect Alina might be possessed by the Devil and need an exorcism. What transpires after this decision to "save her soul" concludes the film.
The film is a depiction of differing visions of love. An agnostic, Mungiu isn't attacking religion or being anti-clerical, nor does he depict any of the characters as fanatics, villains, or dumb. He sees some of these people's actions as misguided. Their beliefs may obscure the reality around them and prevent them from feeling more compassionate. He questions why the nuns feel so cornered that living in a cloistered world seems their best option. Mungiu is more critical of other Romanian institutions, including hospitals that neglect their patients, orphanages that betray children, and a foster family system most interested in money.
Both Stratan and Flutur were voted Best Actress at the Cannes Festival for their bravura performances, a delicate dance between the butch and the femme, each trying to defeat the other's rivals and revealing their volatile inner lives. Enormous credit must also go to cinematographer Oleg Mutu, who provides a stark contrast between the brilliant wintry light and the bleak quarters of the convent, emphasizing both the confinement and the calm order of monastic existence. At. 2.5 hours this is a long film, not always easy to watch. Mungiu uses a handheld camera, long takes and no soundtrack music, so the audience becomes almost a participant in the story. We witness every detail and event unfolding in real time, making the film both demanding and entrancing. The DVD extras, especially the interview with Mungiu and making-of-the-film feature, are excellent. Mungiu takes his place as one of the great film auteurs of this century.