Cristian Mungiu drama set in Norway, following two families whose ideas about parenting and values are pushed into direct conflict.
The family photograph could belong in a tourism brochure: children gathered around their parents, a quiet harbor and mountains filling the background. Fjord starts dismantling that image when bruises are noticed on the couple's eldest daughter.
Cristian Mungiu did not spend nineteen years trying to recreate the movie that won him Cannes. That may be the most useful way to read his second Palme d'Or. Fjord, a 146-minute drama set in Norway, looks geographically far removed from the Romanian story that gave him his first victory in 2007. Cannes has nevertheless kept finding reasons to reward the films between them.
For years, the International Feature race contained an unusually powerful gatekeeper: the national selection committee. The 99th Academy Awards loosen that structure. A small group of major festival winners can now reach the submission process through their awards, and Cannes champion Fjord is one of the first films positioned to use the change.
A Palme d'Or can make a film sound like homework before anyone has bought a ticket. Fjord has a much more immediate setup than that reputation suggests. Released in France on August 19, Cristian Mungiu's new film starts with two neighboring families in Norway and turns a child's bruises into a conflict that quickly reaches the school, the wider community and child-protection authorities.
Our review is not yet available.
