''Aferim!'' ('' en, Bravo!'') is a 2015 Romanian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Radu Jude Radu Jude (; born 28 March 1977) is a Romanian film director and screenwriter. Biography In 2003, Jude graduated from the Film Directing Department of the Media University of Bucharest. He worked as an assistant director for feature films inclu ...

and produced by Ada Solomon. It was screened in the main competition section of the

65th Berlin International Film Festival The 65th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 February 2015, with American film director Darren Aronofsky as the President of the Jury. German film director Wim Wenders was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear. The ...

where Radu Jude won the

Silver Bear for Best Director The Silver Bear for Best Director (german: Silberner Bär/Bester Regie) is an award presented annually at the Berlin International Film Festival since 1956. It is given for the best achievement in directing and is chosen by the International Jury ...

. It was selected as the Romanian entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress# ...

at the

88th Academy Awards The 88th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2015 and took place on February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, 5:30 p.m. PST. Du ...

Plot

The film is set in

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and s ...

in the early 19th century, when a local policeman, Costandin played by

Teodor Corban Teodor Corban (; born 28 April 1957 in Iași) is a Romanian actor. Filmography * '' One Floor Below'' (2015) - Pătrașcu * '' Aferim!'' (2015) - Constantin * ''A Very Unsettled Summer'' (2013) - The Boss (as Teo Corban) * '' Child's Pose (film ...

, is hired by Iordache, a

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgaria, Russia, Wallachia and Moldavia, and later Romania, Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. Boyars were s ...

, to find Carfin played by Toma Cuzin, a

Gypsy The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with si ...

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

who had run away from the boyar's estate after having an affair with his wife, Sultana.

Cast

Victor Rebengiuc Victor Rebengiuc (; known in full as Victor-George Rebengiuc; born 10 February 1933) is a Romanian film and stage actor, also known as a civil society activist. Since 1957, he has been a member of the Bulandra Theater company, acting in more tha ...

as Stan *

Luminița Gheorghiu Luminița Gheorghiu (; 1 September 1949 – 4 July 2021) was a Romanian film actress, and artistic performer in East Central Europe. She achieved international recognition for her roles in ''The Death of Mr. Lazarescu'' (2006) and '' Child's Pose ...

as Smaranda Cîndescu *

Șerban Pavlu Șerban Pavlu (; born 29 June 1975) is a Romanian actor. He has appeared in more than thirty films since 1995. He is well known for the successful TV series Umbre broadcast on HBO, his role in the soap opera "Fetele Marinarului" and in the televi ...

as Traveler *Toma Cuzin as Carfin Pandolean * Gabriel Spahiu as Vasile *Mihaela Sîrbu as Sultana *Alexandru Bindea as Priest on the road *

as Costandin

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

the film has an approval rating of 98% based on 76 critics, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Smart, visually arresting, and scathingly funny, Aferim! depicts a world that many American filmgoers have never seen -- but will still, in many respects, find utterly familiar". On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film have an above average score of 84 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Publication ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' describes Radu Jude's film as "a harsh lesson of history, relieved by overlooked humor and classic Western elements". ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' magazine writes that ''Aferim!'' is "an exceptional and extremely intelligent insight into a crucial period of history, a film equally inspired and furious". According to Jordan Hoffman of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', "this

ilm Ilm or ILM may refer to: Acronyms * Identity Lifecycle Manager, a Microsoft Server Product * '' I Love Money,'' a TV show on VH1 * Independent Loading Mechanism, a mounting system for CPU sockets * Industrial Light & Magic, an American motion ...

with all its full-frontal historical horror, is still loaded with laughs". A.O. Scott of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called ''Aferim!'' "brilliant" and "sublime", while Kit Gillet of the same periodical went as far as calling it "an Oscar contender".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aferim! 2015 films 2015 Western (genre) films Romanian drama films 2010s Romanian-language films Films about slavery Films directed by Radu Jude Films set in the Ottoman Empire Films about Romani people Films set in the 19th century Bulgarian drama films Czech Western (genre) films French Western (genre) films 2010s French films

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links