Beyond the Hills

Beyond the Hills
Film poster
Directed by	Cristian Mungiu
Written by	Cristian Mungiu
Based on	Deadly Confession and Judges' Book by Tatiana Niculescu Bran
Starring	Cosmina Stratan Cristina Flutur
Cinematography	Oleg Mutu
Edited by	Mircea Olteanu
Production company	Mobra Films
Release dates	19 May 2012 (2012-05-19) (Cannes) 26 October 2012 (2012-10-26) (Romania)
Running time	155 minutes
Country	Romania
Language	Romanian

Beyond the Hills (Romanian: După dealuri) is a 2012 Romanian drama film directed by Cristian Mungiu, starring Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan. The narrative follows two young women at an Orthodox convent in Romania.

The film premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, where Mungiu won the award for Best Screenplay, and Flutur and Stratan shared the award for Best Actress. It was selected as the Romanian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, making the January shortlist.

Plot

This is a story of two Romanian orphan girls, Voichita (Cosmina Stratan), who has become a nun in the Orthodox Church, and her troubled friend Alina (Cristina Flutur), who has been working in Germany but has returned home to visit her friend. In their previous life they were roommates at a children's home and had shared a physical relationship.

It soon becomes clear that Alina wishes for this relationship to continue, however Voichita refuses. Alina falls ill and is hospitalised and Voichita begs the priest (Valeriu Andriuta) to allow her to stay along with the nuns at the convent. The priest acquiesces to Voichita's demands, on the condition that she will be responsible should anything happen. He insists that Alina remain faithful to God and undertake confession for her sins.

Alina seeks to convince Voichita to break free of the Orthodox environment and come and join her in Germany. Voichita, for her part, tries to convince Alina to take God into her heart, in the hope that this will finally give her peace. The nuns agree to care for Alina, as they can find no other place for her to stay.

Cast

• Cosmina Stratan as Voichiţa
• Cristina Flutur as Alina
• Valeriu Andriuţă as Priest
• Dana Tapalagă as Mother superior
• Cătălina Harabagiu as Antonia
• Gina Ţandură as nun Iustina
• Vica Agache as nun Elisabeta
• Nora Covali as Nun Pahomia
• Dionisie Vitcu as Mr. Valerică

Production

The screenplay was inspired by two novels by the writer Tatiana Niculescu Bran, documenting the Tanacu exorcism, in which a young member of a monastery in Moldavia died in 2005 after an exorcism ritual. The film production was made through the director's company, Mobra Films. It also received production support from Belgium and France. It received €273,100  from Romania's National Centre for Cinema and €400,000 from Eurimages. Filming took place from November 2011 to February 2012.

Release

File:Au-delà des collines Cannes 2012.jpg

Cast and crew at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival

The film premiered in the main competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened on 19 May. At Cannes, Mungiu won the award for Best Screenplay, while Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan shared the award for Best Actress.

Critical response

Dan Fainaru of Screen Daily wrote from Cannes: "Spare, unadorned and strikingly shot, Cristian Mungiu's film is an unusual rendering of a Romanian exorcism case and is bound to split both audience and critical opinions, some considering it a major achievement and others blaming it for overlong pretentious sensationalism. But it will certainly not pass unnoticed."

Sight & Sound film magazine listed the film at #8 on its list of best films of 2012. Mark Kermode named it his second best film of 2013 so far (from January to June).

See also

• Romanian New Wave
• List of submissions to the 85th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Romanian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender-related films of 2012

External links

• Official website
• Beyond the Hills at IMDb
• Beyond the Hills at Rotten Tomatoes