One on One with Contantin Popescu’s Principles of Life (San Sebastian Film Festival)

Romanian cinema at 58th San Sebastian Festival will be represented by Principles of Life (Principii de viață). Constantin Popescu’s sophomore feature has been selected to compete in the Zabaltegi-New Directors Section. The film examines the rapport between father and son, and in a nutshell is about the generation gaps and the inability to communicate. Emilian Velicanu, 43, considers his life positively full: he has money, a new villa, he is married for the second time to a young woman with whom he has a baby and has a son from his first marriage. Before the holidays arrive, he makes plans to leave his business on autopilot during his time off, but complications ensue, and this end of the day crisis makes him wonder if he’s really happy and fulfilled.

The screenplay for Principles of Life has had a story of its own. It failed to win at a previous edition of National Center of Cinematography (CNC) contest and originally, Radu Jude was set to direct the project, but he decided, due to personal reasons, to make another film – which turned out to be The Happiest Girl in the World (Cea mai fericită fată din lume). Jude’s and Răzvan Rădulescu’s (one of the film’s screenwriters, along with Alex Baciu) ideas about this project didn’t come together, Popescu tells us that “Ada Solomon, the producer, sent me the screenplay. I liked it and I decided immediately that I wanted to direct it. I liked it because on the one hand parts of the movie reminded of my adolescence while on the other hand the characters were very well-developed. I talked to Radu (Jude) then to Razvan (Radulescu), everything was okay, so I directed it. That is the story of this project which has a special place in my career, and, I believe, in the producer Ada Solomon’s too. Radu’s decision helped her finish three great projects: The Happiest Girl in the World by Radu Jude, Above all, Felicia by Razvan Radulescu and Melissa de Raaf and, of course, Principles of Life”.

When asked about how would he invite the public to see his film, Popescu answered, “I could tell them to come and see a movie well-written by Răzvan Rădulescu (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, screenwriter; Above all, Felicia, screenwriter and director; The Paper Will Be Blue, screenwriter) and Alex Baciu (The Paper Will Be Blue; Boogie; Tuesday, after Christmas), starring Vlad Ivanov (4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days; Tales from the Golden Age), Gabriel Huian (Marilena de la P7) and Rodica Lazăr (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu), directed by Constantin Popescu (Apartamentul/The Apartment, Canton, Apă/Water, The Yellow Smiley Face, Tales from the Golden Age, Portrait of the Fighter as a Young Man).”

Popescu started his career with a few short films (Apartamentul/The Apartment, Canton, Apă/Water, The Yellow Smiley Face) and this is what established him as a talented director. Some years later, Cristian Mungiu included him in his project Tales from the Golden Age, while this year, Popescu’s first feature film debuted at the Berlin Film Festival. Portrait of the Fighter as a Young Man is only the first part of a trilogy – Almost Quiet (Aproape liniște) – dedicated to those who fought in the mountains against communism. This first part tells the story of Ion Gavrilă Ogoranu and his group from Făgăraş Mountains. The second part will focus on Elisabeta Rizea and Gheorghe Rizea, with Clara Vodă and Gabriel Spahiu in the leading roles, while the last part will be about Arnăuţoiu brothers, played by Dragoş Bucur and Andi Vasluianu.

Popescu hasn’t graduated from any film school, but he doesn’t consider himself inferior to those who have. His professors have been Terrence Malick, Stanley Kubrick, George Roy Hill, Alfred Hitchock, Jim Jarmusch and Francois Truffaut, whose films also make his top 10 list: Badlands and Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick), Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick), The Sting (George Roy Hill), Pat Garret & Billy The Kid (Sam Peckinpah), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg), Permanent Vacation (Jim Jarmusch), Les quatre cents coups (Francois Truffaut), North by Northwest (Alfred Hitckock) and Gerry (Gus Van Sant).