Occident

Feb 20 2008 N/A 1h 45m
Comedy

"Occident" is a bitter comedy about the people who want to emigrate from Romania, and about those who stay behind. The movie has a rich, interesting structure: there are three different stories - a weeklong in the film - that cross, interconnect and happen in the same period. The characters influence each others lives, sometimes even without knowing. Main characters from one story become secondary characters in another story. At the same time, scenes from the first part of the movie bring unexpected facts when seen the second or the third time. The stories do not have just one ending: the first story ends in each of the third parts in a different point, suggesting radically different solutions for the characters. The way in which the director fits time and links events together often produces thematically unexpected results.

Plot

Occident is a bittersweet comedy that focuses on the growing tendency of Eastern European youth to migrate west. When the amicable Luci (Alexandru Papadopol) and his beautiful lover Sorina (Anca Androne) are evicted from their apartment, Sorina decides they must visit her father's grave and ask for a "sign". Seconds later, Luci is hit in the head by a bottle and taken to the hospital by a Frenchman. Despite her love for Luci, Sorina believes a life with security takes precedence over romance, and moves in with the good samaritan. Meanwhile, a jilted bride (Tania Popa) and her mother (Coca Bloos) enlist the help of of a private agency to find a proper husband for her, but the wealthy Italian man they select has more than a couple of undesirable traits. Later, Michaela's (Popa) father, a police captain, finds out that Luci's cousin is dead, prompting him to remember when the two boys fled from Romania by swimming across the Danube on an inflatable doll. The cousin had made it across, but Luci had been arrested and thrown into prison.

Written by

Cristian Mungiu

Directed by

Cristian Mungiu

Cast

Alexandru Papadopol, Anca Androne, Samuel Tastet

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

Romania

Production Companies

Temple Film

Languages

Româna

Awards

7 wins & 3 nominations

Trailers
Occident Trailer - Film Romanesc
Scores
# of Votes
2,864
Average Rating
7.5 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA