cristi_lala I mean slasher cause after you see it, you reach for a razor blade to slash your wrist. When all Hollywood movies have a happy ending, Romanian movies have a "kill-myself" ending, haven't seen a single Romanian movie made after '89 that had a happy ending, oh well .. maybe "Asphalt Tango" had a quasi-happy ending.Back on topic, Nae Caranfil manages to capture the 1911 Bucharest atmosphere very accurate. An old civilized world, without vulgar language and gratuitous violence, a time when honor and social statute where extremely important, a time when falling in disgrace of a member took the whole family down with it. Also a world on the dawn of a new era, when corruption started to spread and con-artists began to thrived.What strikes me is that this is not a movie about making a movie, but a love story that takes place while making a movie. Its that kind of movie that makes you think about it days after you see it ! Is Emilia a lead character ? No ! Did she influenced dramatically the lives of the male lead characters ? Definitely yes ! Director Nae Caranfil manages to tell a story within a story which in my opinion this makes hes best movie, one of the best Romanian movies in fact. One minor criticism : German soldiers, which actually where not even Germans as the caption said, they where in fact Austria-Hungarian soldiers, their uniforms looked like Wehrmacht World War II uniforms, especially the combat helmets. Austria-Hungarian helmets had a small sharp vertical spike on top of the helmet. Im not a history buff to dwell on that too much. **** SPOILER INCOMING ****Emilia character, played masterfully by Mirela Zeta, at first looks like its not fully developed as a character, her story has plot holes and loose ends but thats intentional, how can you portray a female character accurate when shes's lying as often as she breathes. She's not a peasant girl that lives in the city as she said in the harvest dance scene. At that time no peasant girl would dare leaving to the city and returning as she pleased without her father beating her senseless. I suspect she was a stowaway among the extras trying to get noticed as an actress by the young director or anyone in the movie industry by a matter of fact. She lies and screws everyone and with everyone that can help her achieve her goal: to become and actress. And she did became an actress, in a theater bought by Leon character for her, in a time where he dint afford that eccentricity. She has a son, who is the father ? Plot hole ? No, it doesn't matter whos the father, mostly because even she doesn't know. Five years passes and the young director Grigore still didn't forget her. He founds a portrait of her, he takes it and he keeps it tight in hes arms like in an embrace. Definitely he loved her more than he shows throughout the whole movie, which fits very well in that age of time, when men didn't showed so transparently how they felt. He loves and hates her at the same time, which can be seen in the scene near the end when he throws a glass of water on her painting in a dual gesture: he threw a glass of water on her face first time she met her and he also threw a glass of water in her face last time he saw her, marking the beginning and the end. Which leads to the final scene: Grigore character doesn't lie in court because Leon actions harmed her ! He lies to punish Leon because he had her. Well done Mr. Caranfil ! Bravo !

Armand Story of a movie. Story of a Romanian society and the image of movie-adventure. A film about small things, warm, nostalgic, like a spring day.A comedy but, in same time, description of a fight. Old fashion atmosphere and subjective view. And large circles of collective memory. A film about present with words of past.Simple, naive and natural, classic and childish, cruel analysis of a victory and scene of soft discover of national modernity's roots. Ioana Bulca in a impressive come-back. Marius Florea Vizante as brilliant pioneer. And the ash of a lost time. A film about the deep images of soul. Piece of self-definition. A sort of game out of gray reality. A movie. About sense of art, fight, success, fame and truth. Small fragment of a huge mirror.

simonasidorin Well first of all I like the title : it is very suggestive , very theatrical . This movie is a needed change of rhythm in the Romanian cinema because it is depicting an episode of pioneering cinema in Romania . The year is 1912 but INDEPENDENCE WAR do not forget : is not the very first Romanian movie , maybe it is the first historical movie , even from the historical point of view the real UNION came in 1918 with Basarabia and Transilvania joining Valahia and Moldova ...but we are getting too much into national history .That era depicted in film is when Bucharest was opening more to European influences and especially french culture , it later became LITTLE Paris and it was not an exaggeration at all. French was spoken by aristocrats , intellectuals , artists and even common people. Of course the movie is got a lot of comic moments , we are Romanians N'EST CE PAS ? Do not forget also that haughty people they despised cinema , they preferred theater . I know they we're right but , let's get over it . Cinema was incredible cheap , even in those days , it was a sort of entertainment for low social classes , for the mob . But of course in time people they changed up minds , it is to admire the passion the people involved in this project they sacrifice to see their dream come true . Also it is showing us how VOLATILE and transient the films are ......they burn so easily .I enjoyed watching this movie , and is a nice feeling to know that they are still people who cares about CINEMA .

Raul G The latest hits of Romanian cinematography are all movies which show Romania in gray tones. So far they've been successful and i really appreciate those movies but it's about time that a director does the normal thing, to change the pace of Romanian films a little. Through the magic of Nae Caramfil and the help of a consistent budget, we have a film good enough to compare with Hollywood productions and who still keeps his artistic integrity and doesn't fall into commercialism. The script is brilliant and fearless, with cleaver lines and a language to suit the depicted times. Marius Vizante has a great performance as a frustrated but proud young director, and Ovidiu Niculescu's unlikely (Niculescu having neither the age, neither the stature of Leon Negrescu) cast in the role of Leon proved to be a really good choice. I sincerely believe that this movie will be a milestone in Romanian cinematography and i hope that many as good as this one will follow.