User reviews

A very well written and well made film. I only say well done and not perfect because it felt a bit too long. Maybe an extra dynamism would have made it much more attractive. But besides this, I can say that I really liked it. It managed to capture my attention and kept me in suspense till the end. Congratulations to the whole team!

I want to refer particularly on the actors. The two boys Florin (Voicu Dumitras) and especially Iuliu (Sergiu Smerea) are very good. They succeed in roles in which they are natural, deeply assumed, believable. They leave the impression in everything they do that there's a connection between them and the director, with the help of which he's been able to convey to them what he wants from them, and they feel comfortable with the lessons learned, so to speak. Good for them!

I don't want to end without mentioning the main actress: Mãlina Manovici, who practically carries all the burden of this film, plays an extraordinary role here that can be a good example for any acting student. And in her case, as with the boys, there is a good collaboration with the director, with whom she managed to create memorable moments. I just want to mention the scene in the principal's office which I really liked and which shows that you can write good dialogues that give the actors the opportunity to act something worth watching. Bravo, Gabriel Spahiu, Richard Bovnoczki and Mãlina Manovici!

Also, wonderful frame with the two doors and the crucifix between them. Bravo! I wonder if those two doors really exist or were specially made. Anyway, awesome.

I'll say now what I didn't like: I don't like the title and I don't think it helps the movie, on the contrary. It probably means something. I didn't understand what, but... well, that's the filmmakers' option. A lot of scenes that could be missing and so maybe it would have been a little more dynamic.

I can't say anything about the cinematography, editing, production design, nothing caught my eye because I was stolen by the story, so everything is fine.

What a pity that there are so few good films. This one is a drop in the ocean of bad Romanian films produced in recent years. Unfortunately, those movies have ruined the mood for cinema for the majority of Romanian viewers.

Congratulations, everyone!

A film that makes you think of French cinema. Alexandru Papadopol was well chosen for the role of the priest. His physique and the level of his performance help the character a lot. I never liked this actor and I don't like priests in general, so for me this role is a very pleasant and unexpected surprise. Alexandru Papadopol plays his part well until the end, being very credible. Mãlina Manovici is a sensual, expressive actress who conveys a lot, knowing how to hide a girl full of carnal desires under an angelic face. There would be a lot to say about the subject matter of the film, but that's another topic. In conclusion, a well-made film, along with Unidentified (2020).

A truly enjoyable cinema experience. It has humour, tension, rhythm and very, very good performances from all the main cast. Alexandru Papadopol is very convincing as a the dispassionate priest.

This film exceeded my expectations and the group of filmmakers who did this have a lot of potential!

I didn't think it was mediocre at all, the performance of the main actress was excellent, you could feel that constant tension, especially in the scene when she was looking for her son and was teaching him how to cover her lies. She transforms very unexpectedly into a different person she couldn't know she could be.

The ending was somehow surprising and served exactly what it needed. It made me think and it still does. There are lots of interpretations for the final scene and I recommend everybody to see the film and find the suitable meaning for themselves.

A Romanian thriller of great emotional intensity, inspired by a real and difficult story. It doesn't even matter that it takes place in a Romanian city. It could be from anywhere. This is excellent. It does not present the gloomy universe like the average Romanian. I was hugely impressed by the young actor Sergiu Smerea (Iuliu, the 16-year-old). Strange, passionate, able to look into the depth of another person, but also into the abyss of a world where people play their own lives inauthentically, but conforming. Very good Mãlina Manovici (Ecaterina, religion teacher). She embodies a domesticated shadow, passionately-dangerously awakened, if only for a moment, to a life that is not allowed to it. Very good Alexandru Papadopol (the priest Dragos). He is the born domesticated on whom life plays a tragic farce. The film is in the previews stage (TIFF, Sibiu an others). From September, it will take the path of big or small screens. Needless to say, I think you're missing out if you don't experience this cinematic experience. Mihaela Miroiu.

The fear of infidelity is the theme of A Higher Law (2021), based on a real from Piatra Neamt, where a religion teacher, wife of a priest, was involved in a public scandal after a relationship with one of her students. Because Transilvania Film Festival offers this extraordinary opportunity to meet the makers of a film immediately after the screening, A Higher Law (2021) seemed to me an even more impressive directorial debut listening to the way Octav Chelaru argued his cinematic choices and seeing the unity of his team of actors including Alexandru Papadopol, Sergiu Smerea and Mãlina Manovici, protagonists who, I have no doubt, will receive some awards for this interpretation. Liana Alexandru.

Such a nice start, and it is ruined in purest atheist fashion. Starts with great aesthetics, -it even surpasses my orthodox standard for church music- and philosophy, with virtue.. shown in most if not all of the characters. But it does not last long. 30 minutes in and it slowly degrades into nonsense and vice. It corrupts most of the characters, there is no more virtue to be shown by anyone, the philosophical depth is thrown out. For , no , reason , other than to serve a dirty plot!!!

This is antichristian propaganda, but it lacks the sophistication necessary to pose a threat. Sadly.. as chritians love a good challenge, and being asked tough questions.

Nuff said . Deontologically crap.

The slow pace, deliberate classicism, and thematics of this debut film would easily serve as arguments for shipping it off as "another one of those East European dramas" that have been practically mass-produced in recent years. This would be to overlook the fact that Chelaru's feature film unmasks the patriarchal workings with astonishing maturity, often at the turn of a shot or a dialogue.

Passed under all the major radars, this story about the perilous relationship between a Religion teacher married to an Orthodox priest and one of her underage students certainly does not have the subversive charge of a Radu Jude, but can boast of a beautiful suspense where we can guess the influence of Michael Haneke.

For me, this film was about being honest with oneself. There are few people really alive in this world. The majority cling to to beliefs and rules for the wrong reasons, but not out of sincere yearning. We are able to sacrifice anything for these beliefs because we are very insecure and the search for the pure truth or the true self gives us headaches. The discussions at the dinner table were the most eloquent in this sense. There was laughter at these scenes, although they were certainly not intended for humor, but they created this reaction because they overlap some cultural stereotypes, which once you see them, you can't help but make fun of them. If you are the type who wants to learn a lesson after watching a film, I suspect that what remains with you after this film is that the sedimented frustrations due to customs, restrictions and hypocrisy can lead to very dark situations, most likely with many collateral victims. Zavatos.

One of the best Romanian movies of 2022, less a remake of Hannah Fidell's A Teacher than a retelling of the temptation of Eve by an amoral boy with mommy issues, a story of a woman whom we're not meant to judge, because everything around her is, from the start, just worse than than her one moment of weakness. A complex moral issue and a high-octane battle of ego vs. Faith, good nature vs. Unintentional evil. The innocents are bound to get hurt, but very few people are truly innocent in this film and everything is relative. The teacher is a religion teacher, but teaches philosophy (mostly) instead - even in Romania, a highly religious country, religion is almost banned from schools. Add to that an environment who judges women no matter what they do, a martyr complex and sexual frustration and you start to see why this teacher initially gives in to Iuliu's advances. Ours is a society which, during primetime hour, asks questions about women like "if she didn't want the pictures to get leaked, why did she take them during sex?", as if Radu Jude's Bad Luck Banging never even happened at all. We are a country with no healing in sight, but films like this at least invite viewers to some much-needed honest conversation (an opportunity which led me to discover that my own town was shook by the love story of a 24 year-old teacher and a 16 year-old male student which eventually ended in a happy marriage after the kid went to college - happy according to the very people which were initially appalled by such a prospect. (Legal) love truly conquers all, even past hypocrisy)

A Higher Law (2021) is an interesting Romanian film, quite daring and actually well made, considering that we are talking about Octav Chelaru's feature film debut.

Ecaterina is a young religion teacher. Frustrated, including from a sexual point of view, in the relationship with her husband, a well-known priest in the city, she has an affair with Iuliu, a 16-year-old teenager who is her pupil. Things will take an unexpected turn when Iuliu makes some surprising choices.

Mãlina Manovici fits perfectly into the role of the central character and has a very good interpretation. I watched her carefully in Lemonade (2018) and I think she is extremely talented.

I also appreciated the carefully written dialogues that refer to faith, life and choices.

The ending, even if a little predictable, is somehow out of the pattern of Romanian films.

In conclusion, A Higher Law (2021) is a more than decent film that definitely deserves a viewing.

An exposition of the nature of man ("choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15). This was a very interesting movie that explored the choice between bondage and freedom. Every scene is an indictment of the Ecaterina's belief. Her actions are in total contradiction to what she believes and teaches every day. The confrontation with her mother-in-law sets the tone of the movie, freedom comes at a cost. She hides her sin. For example, she hides cigarettes on the running trail, so she can smoke out of sight. No one is there to judge her actions. She hides her failing, which amplify the act, and makes it harder for her to change course.

Ecaterina sleeps with a Iuliu, one of her students. After that act, every word that comes out of her mouth is challenged by her past actions (sin). Therefore, she cannot stand before anyone to teach about Christ. This is demonstrated when she talk about love from a biblical perspective. Iuliu challenged her by giving a worldly definition of love. In his mind, love can only be felt through sex, a view that is in total contradiction of the Christian belief. Ecaterina has been silenced by her sins. She misunderstood the concept of freedom from a biblical perspective. Her idea freedom is worldly. She slept with an underage person, betrayed trust of her students, betrayed her vows, caused chaos in the family, and somewhat contributed to the suicide. This is a kind of freedom she vehemently defended at the dinner with her husband, mother-in-law, and other family members. Her understanding of freedom brings death.

In the end, she is in total isolation, and it looks like she and her husband are divorced. They are bother not wearing their rings. However, they are still living together. The son wants nothing to do with her, and the community, I assume, will totally isolate her and her "husband". She chose bondage, and now she is drowning in guilt and regret. That last scene was perfect. She is in a room stewing in her regrets. The priest comes and shuts the door. Separating her from him and the rest of the house. Remember, she is already separated from her son. The lesson in that scene is that sin separates you from God. That's what I got. I think they rushed the downward spiral of Iuliu. It was just frustrating how Ecaterina start overreacting because of her guilt. The more she tried to cover it up, the more it got out of hand. Iuliu lived alone so she could have continued the affair for a long time. Her husband fully trusted her.

In Romanian folklore, the Balaur is a many-headed dragon that symbolises Evil to be overcome by the hero of the story. In the film, this translates to a dark study of the impasse within the religious teacher Ecaterina. She believes that every person is free to choose, but is herself unhappy with her life as the wife of the local priest. Wrestling with the question of whether freedom is compatible with faith, Ecaterina finds herself attracted to one of her pupils, the sixteen-year-old Iuliu, who falls hopelessly in love with her. Their initial little secrets and lies threaten to take on monstrous proportions. For his first feature film, which can rely on strong performances, director Octav Chelaru himself wrote an intriguing screenplay. Those familiar with Romanian cinema of the past two decades know that it rarely disappoints.

Finaly a very good romanian movie , the best since After Hills 2012, the almost only one watchable since then ,, without.licensed language , the 2 nd romanian film made after the involution without licesed language, with an original subject , nowbody dare to approach in romanian cinematography a subject like this , without a clear or happpy end.

Very good cinematography. The DOP is Barbu Balasoiu who for the last few years has made very good movies which are all different! Starting with Lupu and continuing with Sieranevada, his style has become very mature and he can now be named one of Romania's best.

Tonight I saw Octav Chelaru's debut feature film, which is based on (or rather is inspired by) a real love story with a tragic ending, which happened some years ago, between a priest's wife and a high school student. The story ended with the suicide of the young man.

I won't narrate the movie here, just a few highlights.

The film has all the characteristics of the low-budget Romanian film, which relies a lot on the psychological mindset of the characters, in order to impress the audience! With all the good and the bad that derives from here!

The film has a good flow, it is not preaching anything and it's quite honest, not forcing the viewer towards limited interpretations.

I still don't know what to say about how believable the characters are presented. Maybe because of my familiarity with the setting, maybe because of the exceptionality of the story.

Dialogues are, most often, natural; sometimes slightly touched by hysteria, as in all Romanian films. Or maybe it's just my feeling...

All in all, it is not an anti-clerical film at all! On the contrary! Beyond some awkwardness, the church, the priesthood, the priest's family are approached very respectfully!

It's a film about wounded and unfulfilled eros, maybe also about a confused past of a woman, maybe incapable of happiness, maybe forced to live a life that didn't make her happy!

But more than that, I think it's about the devastating effect that migration and the lack of family love has on children and teenagers!

The conclusion drawn by me, let's call it "moral conclusion", is that man without love is nothing and tends towards self-destruction. The lack of love places the soul in an entropic desire, which, at best, destroys destinies, and at worst, puts the equal sign between life and death!

I say it's a movie worth seeing!

Well, a very complicated film by its message, its feelings, by what the characters think and do. Especially since I have always considered that in a relationship, and in an adultery, there are always two parties who are wrong, who cross certain thresholds and limits. Not only one of the parties is guilty, and when it comes to adultery there are actually several parties involved and even... guilty.

So we have: a rather honest and reclusive priest; a wife who is both the priest's wife and a religion teacher at a high school, quite knowledgeable and willing to discuss not only Orthodox morality, but also life issues; a very free high school student, because he comes from a school in Germany, who at the same time asks questions, but is also eager to change the order of things.

Until love or desire intervenes in this triangle. Or immaturity. So, "When does freedom become dangerous? When it gives birth to inner monsters?" And at the age of immaturity, any reaction is dangerous, because it is, first of all, ...immature. A very complicated film, as I said, to see and discuss.

Great movie. It managed to actually make me feel the inner turmoil of the main character. Great cinematography and storytelling overall. I can't give it the full 5 out of 5 stars because some parts of the climax felt a bit forced, but that's a very small issue and I may be subjective about it since I can't be sure how anyone would actually react in the situation depicted here. Hats off to the main actress, very impressive performance. I don't think I can name another Romanian movie that got me so emotionally involved, and that's also because of the great direction but it's the main actress that makes you relate and really care. Don't miss this one!