R.M.N.
Romania, France, Belgium, Sweden 2022
Directed by Cristian Mungiu, drama, 125 min, eng subtitles, 16+
Written by Cristian Mungiu
With Marin Grigore, Judith State, Macrina Bârlădeanu, Orsolya Moldován, Andrei Finți
A bear, a forest, freshly baked bread, love and a cello, a landscape dedicated to cultural fusion. Returning from Germany, a Roma-German father reclaims his son’s education along macho lines, reprimands his estranged Romanian wife and seeks to regain his Hungarian lover, who is hiring Sri Lankan bakers to earn EU funding, as none of the locals will accept the wages offered. How can a millennia-old multicultural haven like Transylvania come to embody hate speech and abuse of legal migrants, women, sensitive children, ecologists, ‘others’ in whichever form? Although based on a real event, and with a record of languages spoken and colour-coded subtitles, R.M.N. is more than a M.R.I. of intolerance in a Romanian mountain village. Its drama is plausible of any human community that has not yet settled or even accepted its differences, learning the art of living together “in the mood for love”. More topical than ever.