Graduation

Romeo Aldea, a respected doctor living with his family in a small town in Transylvania, is doing all he can to ensure that his talented daughter gets to attend university in Britain. Before she goes Eliza just has to pass her final exams, which shouldn’t be a problem. But things take a turn for the worse when she is attacked on her way to school. While she isn’t badly hurt, her father, fearing she may not be able to send the exam results in time, takes certain measures to ensure she does, forgetting that he is violating the principles he instilled in his daughter. The director leaves aside the circumstances of the assault and the assailant; for him the chief character is Romeo, prepared to make the compromises he deplores in others, since he can’t bear the thought that Eliza might not get the chance for a better life. The sense of his own failure, which is meant to be offset by his daughter’s success, mirrors the situation in contemporary Romania. This modern morality play from one of Europe’s leading contemporary filmmakers was acknowledged by the Cannes jury, who honoured Mungiu with the Best Director Award.