"Muntean truly touches on what it is like to be powerless and vulnerable to such an extent."

Cineuropa
  • Archive - Festival 37
  • Director: Radu Muntean
  • Romania 2021
  • 104 minutes
  • Romanian
  • Subtitles in Hebrew, English

Maria, Dan and Ilinca take part in their regular end-of-the-year humanitarian trip, driving an SUV along the mountain dirt roads of the Romanian village of Întregalde. They help a lonely old man reach a sawmill, where he supposedly works. But when their car gets stuck in a ditch in the woods, the sawmill proves to be abandoned, and they’re forced to spend the night with the senile old man, their ideas about empathy and helpfulness are challenged.

Romanian auteur Radu Muntean’s new film is an incisive, sarcastic and suspenseful drama about the limits of generosity.

Filmography: Alice T. (2018), One Floor Below (2015), Tuesday, After Christmas (2010), The Paper Will Be Blue (2006).

An online conversation with the director


  • Director Radu Muntean
  • Production Dragos Vilcu
  • Script Radu Muntean, Razvan Radulescu, Alexandru Baciu
  • Cinematography Tudor Vladimir Panduru
  • Editing Andu Rudu
  • Actors Maria Popistasu, Ilona Brezoianu, Alex Bogdan, Luca Sabin
  • Festivals Cannes, Toronto
  • Source Voodoo Films, Bucharest