The Romanian master filmmaker Cristian Mungiu moves away from a backdrop he knows far too well to explore the family unit way further up north. Winner of the Palme d’Or in 2007 for his sophomore feature 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Mungiu has stock piled the Croisette with Best Actress and Best Screenplay winning Beyond the Hills (2012), Best Director winning Graduation (2016), and the criminally neglected RMN in (2022). His 2002 debut Occident was also a Croisette offering for the Directors’ Fortnight and so were Tales from the Golden Age and Bridges of Sarajevo (2014). With Fjord — we find Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve topline this as the Gheorghiu family — about a Romanian father and a Norwegian mother, who have moved to the mother’s birthplace, a remote Norwegian village, and befriend the neighboring Halberg family. When the Gheorghius are suspected of disturbing behavior regarding their children, their lives are thrown into chaos as they become the center of scrutiny. The mostly scandi-funded project is the competition film #14 of 22.
Previous Cannes Critics’ Panel notes for his films include 2012’s Beyond the Hills (3.4 average score), 2016’s Graduation (3.4 average score), and 2022’s RMN (3.3 average score). the second of the two comp screenings with the world premiere just after 6p.m. we are looking at a true contender with Fjord landing the second highest ranking with a 3.5 average grade from 9 of our 20 critics. Stay tuned for this one!
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