4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)
Set in 1987 Romania, during the height of the country’s authoritarian regime, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Cristian Mungiu’s 2007 Palme d’Or winner follows a young woman’s incredible struggles to get an illegal abortion.
Laura Vasiliu is Gabita, the naïve college student who’s desperate to put her unplanned pregnancy behind her, but it’s through the eyes of her stronger-minded friend Otilie (Anamaria Marinca) that this quietly scathing drama unfolds, in excruciating and suspenseful real time.
The roommates face an abortionist (Vlad Ivanov) who turns out to be a predator, but it’s Otilie who negotiates her way through layers of corruption and day-to-day bureaucracy, making agonizing sacrifices for her friend.
By the end, her eyes have been ripped open not only to a deep societal malaise but to a life-changing understanding of how vulnerable women are in a system that controls and keeps them in their place.
