Tuesday, After Christmas (2010)
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | PAL 16:9 | 01:35:58 | 7,33 Gb
Audio: Romanian AC3 5.1/2.0 @ 448/192 Kbps | Subs: English, French
Genre: Drama, Romance
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | PAL 16:9 | 01:35:58 | 7,33 Gb
Audio: Romanian AC3 5.1/2.0 @ 448/192 Kbps | Subs: English, French
Genre: Drama, Romance
Director: Radu Muntean
Stars: Mimi Branescu, Mirela Oprisor, Maria Popistasu
Paul Hanganu loves two women. Adriana his wife and the mother of their daughter, the woman with whom he's shared the thrills of the past ten years, and Raluca the woman who has made him redefine himself. He has to leave one of them before Christmas.
…The warm, mutual appreciation of the opening scene is juxtaposed brilliantly in the very next scene, as Paul shops with his wife, Adriana (Mirela Oprisor). The married couple’s emotional frigidity and detachment permeates every frame of celluloid and every word of dialogue. These characters are done faking their love for each other; they are just going through the motions, staying together for the sake of their daughter (Sasa Paul-Szel). It is not until one of the final images of the film - when Adriana passes a Christmas gift behind her back to Paul without ever turning around - that we finally sense that the couple was ever intimately familiar with each other. But this is not a pleasant realization, it is too little too late. Until this moment, there is no pity or empathy associated with the unavoidable demise of Adriana and Paul’s relationship; but this this singular act concludes Tuesday, After Christmas with an extremely subtle yet powerful wallop.
Tuesday, After Christmas starts as it means to go on. Its opening scene is of a couple in bed, one that takes in both their playful nature and their rapport. The conversation is warm, humorous and contains just a touch of seriousness. The overall tone is intensely private and this is precisely why we are drawn into this couple’s relationship. Our intrigue isn’t one of voyeurism but one of recognition. We understand such moments and can share in their feeling and affection. The sense of reality is immense and aided immeasurably by the selflessness of the two performers. The scene also unfolds in a single unbroken take: no deviations, no distractions, no attempts to up the pace - just the everyday rhythms of real life.
This approach is maintained throughout, becoming the means by which co-writer and director Radu Muntean can really probe his characters. The second scene reveals that the man we’ve just witnessed in bed is in fact married to another woman. The third scene goes a stage further and reveals that his lover is also his daughter’s dentist. Yet neither is pronounced in a melodramatic fashion. Rather the viewer gets to understand the situation simply by spending time in the company of these people. We realise that Paul, the husband, loves his wife very much and that they still have an immediately discernible chemistry. They seem entirely happy in each other’s company and entirely relaxed. Witnessing their scenes together without knowledge of his infidelity would no doubt suggest a perfectly loving couple and this is entirely the point. These are ordinary people, not stock characters.
Muntean refuses such clichés and narrative mainstays. He doesn’t make things easier for either the viewer or his characters by placing a strain on the marriage or offering up some basic reason as to why this man has strayed. Even Paul himself seems unsure as to why this situation has arisen. His family life, as we see it, has the appearance of there being nothing wrong and yet here he is with a younger mistress for whom he also cares deeply. Maybe this is just a fling, maybe it is something with stronger roots. Either way, Muntean avoids easy labels. His film will understandably bring things to a head, but only as a means of probing the situation further. We aren’t expected to take sides or to gain some cathartic reaction to the fallout from revelations. Rather we are asked to watch as something far more akin to reality unfolds. All the while those long takes are ever present, effectively placing each scene under a microscope.
It’s important to stress that the technique is always in service to the drama. Muntean isn’t going for flash here, but instead exerting considerable control. This succession of lengthy, uninterrupted scenes refuses his actors a place to hide. Their performances cannot be assisted in the edit or, for that matter, abetted by musical punctuation thanks to a complete lack of score. Instead everything must be forced out into the open. So fascinating are the end results that we barely notice anything else besides the actors. Tuesday, After Christmas is a film about its characters, its situation and the realities inherent in both - it is they which command our attention. The nuts and bolts of its construction and the methodology behind it all simply aren’t given the space to register; even the terrific ’scope cinematography by Tudor Lucacia cannot steal us away.
There is one particular behind-the-scenes detail which cannot help but register if you are aware of it: the actors who portray Paul and his wife, Adriana, are married in real life. This isn’t something I was aware on a first viewing, though it undoubtedly lent a second watch an additional frisson. Tuesday, After Christmas already makes great demands on its performers, but surely this was only enhanced for Mimi Brãnescu and Mirela Oprisor, especially during the film’s latter stages. It makes for yet another reason to be massively impressed by Muntean’s feature, though I’d be wary of ever labelling their presence as stunt casting. The quality is just too good for that to ever be a consideration. Plus Muntean simply doesn’t do gimmickry. Tuesday, After Christmas is a film about honesty and it is that honesty which pervades the entire picture.
Special Features:
- Making Of (15:42)
All Credits goes to Original uploader.
No More Mirrors, Please.
491860A080E8737FD51C4CE5D3EE3DD1 *Tusafcr.avaxhome.ru.part01.rar
C362B124913F0E79DDB99CFBE56A23FA *Tusafcr.avaxhome.ru.part02.rar
3513B3BA79D244EA0D40703CE045504E *Tusafcr.avaxhome.ru.part03.rar
55BB0C0CD07B721D3B1573910718E297 *Tusafcr.avaxhome.ru.part04.rar
9C402C7642FEF3A4F03980CD86D9B495 *Tusafcr.avaxhome.ru.part05.rar
85E27F2843EF6CCAF0D267F1C33EB3E2 *Tusafcr.avaxhome.ru.part06.rar
23F8F470D1249C2A3B23974A1CEEB1DA *Tusafcr.avaxhome.ru.part07.rar
DBD25FB7381D2B9818358F3813860DAA *Tusafcr.avaxhome.ru.part08.rar
86701DC3A448B73E714435BD1E56F31E *Tusafcr.avaxhome.ru.part09.rar
980D3276A77C3A024905240823D206F6 *Tusafcr.avaxhome.ru.part10.rar
0C0FD5C6B70A6056768B93E317C90CEA *Tusafcr.avaxhome.ru.part11.rar
11F8F9217A5E380C9A21FD49F9BF80B6 *Tusafcr.avaxhome.ru.part12.rar
533616E803BDE28BA7C4210AF20B5D20 *Tusafcr.avaxhome.ru.part13.rar
723FB6E6E10849B6D1A7B0B3FC52D564 *Tusafcr.avaxhome.ru.part14.rar
A74BDF74089B9E1CFDD73D9F9773A5CD *Tusafcr.avaxhome.ru.part15.rar