There are some interesting themes explored here in this movie but unfortunately the toxic familial drama becomes so central that it distracts from everything else and sucks the air out of the room. Look, I get it, the family in the film is struggling to come to terms with its past which was direly shaped by the circumstances of the communist 80s in Romania. But ultimately there's too much of the toxicity and suffering that is self-inflicted and that comes out of sheer narcissism. The main character (Dragos) spends some unspecified number of years in Germany where he is treated as a foreigner and feels deeply out of place; it doesn't help that he feels out of place in Romania too, so it's true we are given a context to Dragos' self-centeredness.
However, it felt rather a dissatisfying explanation for why the character is consistently so self-involved and uses everyone for his own means. There are plenty of people who have been the victims of the secret police or victims of xenophobia, or just plain victims of feeling estranged from their country of birth and alienated from the society where they chose to immigrate. But they don't become narcissists and their circumstance doesn't give them a free pass to act like jerks to everyone else... to be fair, everyone in the family has a lot of issues, so not to say that Dragos is the villain in chief.
So does the director want to highlight how a family struggles with its past, shaped by historical inevitability and some plain bad choices? Or does it want to grapple with post-modern malaise and alienation, with self-inflicted wounds caused by self indulgence, narcissism, and yes... a good dose of sexism? To what extent are these symptoms of post communist, capitalist society as it moulds on the specific psyche of Romanian people?
(I can only guess, I spent the first 20 years of my life in Romania, then moved abroad almost 15 years ago -- so the movie's premises and themes are deeply interesting to someone with my background).
In (trying to) tackle both of the above themes, unfortunately the film misses its mark and becomes a rather unfocused mess. I guess Netzer wanted to show an honest portrayal of his own familial drama? If so, vulnerability here backfires quite a bit and is just not enough to save the film. A self-indulgent portrayal of a self-indulgent narcissistic man cannot be satisfactory, no matter how honest he is, and no matter how much he forces the audience to zoom into the details of his angst and anger.
All in all, a very uncomfortable movie to watch with no hidden rewards for the viewer. A lot of shouting and even physical violence with no resolution in sight. I recommend that whole family prolonged and intensive therapy sessions.
