Film review: Tuesday, After Christmas

Radu Muntean’s so-called infidelity drama premiered in Romania on September 17, one of the most keenly awaited movies of the year in its home country. It has been very well received by film critics worldwide, with glowing reviews in publications including Variety, LA Times and Liberation and a nomination in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes film festival, among many other wins at local and international film festivals. To Romanians, although the movie will rank among the best productions of recent years, the gloomy realism with which it presents contemporary Romanian society may not come as a surprise.

Corina Dumitrescu

So at first glance, it may seem that Tuesday, After Christmas is just another example of the dark and almost suffocating drama that Romanian cinematographers showcase past and present Romanian reality with, impressing the more optimistic Western eye. This, for example, was the case with The Death of Mr Lazarescu, 2006 winner of the Cannes Un certain regard section, a story of the dysfunctional medical system in Romania, and 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 days, Palme d’Or winner at Cannes, a tragic depiction of communism and how it regarded women.

On a less tragic note, however, Tuesday, After Christmas tells the story of the adulterous Paul Hanganu (played by Mimi Branescu), a man romantically involved with two women, his wife and his mistress, one of whom he has to split with before Christmas. The film depicts the drama of modern man; Paul Hanganu is a credit broker in his late thirties, who has managed to attain a comfortable upper middle class existence, providing for his wife and nine-year-old daughter. But this socially acceptable happiness shatters as soon as he falls in love with another woman.

In spite of his betrayal of the woman who has dedicated her life to him and their daughter, Hanganu sheds a more human light on the usually negative character of the adulterer. Although he is a man trapped by his own destiny, to whom things happen (as he explains to his shocked wife, he did not choose to fall in love with someone else, it happened to him), Hanganu eventually makes the decision to stay with only one of the women, although he could have continued his double life without too much ado, like so many others in his shoes.

All in all, Tuesday, After Christmas is definitely a must see, as it brings a completely new perspective on how we are used to regarding certain aspects of life. The actors give excellent performances and one of the most moving scenes of the movie in the moment when Adriana Hanganu, the wronged wife, is told the truth by her now estranged husband. One can literally see how the entire universe crumbles before the eyes of the broken woman, a role for which Mirela Oprisor won Best Actress at the Sarajevo Film Festival.