A Sociological Critique of the Film ۴ Months, ۳ Weeks and ۲ Days (۲۰۰۷)

The film narrates the story of a period two years before the fall of Nicolae Ceaușescu, the communist dictator of Romania, and four years before the collapse of the Soviet Union. An era in which regimes flounder in the quagmire of reform or the intensification of past methods. Ceaușescu, along with his wife, was executed in the popular anti-communist revolution of 1989, a few months after his visit to Iran. He and his wife were the last people to be executed in Romania. In this society, abortion was punishable to the point of death.

The film is neither sloganistic nor contrived. This can be discerned from its everyday dialogues and its character depictions. It demonstrates the proper fusion of concern and subject matter with art, which distances the film from being sloganeering and incongruous, and instead displays life itself and the morass into which it has sunk.

The film narrates a society in a state of collapse, corrupt in every dimension—political, economic, and social. The social condition can be inferred from the very opening scenes. A student dormitory that resembles a prison more than anything else, with two rows of numerous rooms and a narrow, dark corridor. Dispirited and melancholy students who must obtain cigarettes, soap, and even sanitary services through a corrupt cycle of black-market dealings and bribery, which inflicts severe harms upon the people. Or the scene where Otilia throws the baby into the garbage chute in a dilapidated, dark, ruined house. An act that is impossible under the light and can only occur in darkness and concealment. This indicates the suffocation and closedness of the society. The repeated demands for identification papers by the hotel clerks demonstrate that the existing regime is a police state. Or the fact that the attendees at the birthday party of Otilia’s boyfriend, despite possessing high social standing, are seated at a humble table in a small apartment, signifying the poverty of the society, even within the lives of those of higher social status. Or the hotel scene, where one would expect the greatest luxury, yet we are met with faded walls and doors and threadbare carpets, indicativeness of the deplorable economic conditions. Yet, the members of the society seek to live under the worst circumstances while still preserving their composure and dignity (which is, of course, also the demand of the system). This claim, in varying degrees, is far from reality and is hollow! From Bebe (the diabolical man who initially presents himself as honest and fair, but once he learns there is no money to be had, transforms into a beast—and he is, of course, a misogynist, as can be understood from his treatment of his elderly mother) to the birthday party guests (who blend friendly behavior with moralizing and vainglory, all of whom are artfully positioned with a bookcase in the background, a critique of the society’s intelligentsia) and even Otilia's boyfriend (who supports her)—all of them, without exception!

The film is about Otilia. The camera follows her in most of the film's scenes. A student girl, rural and poor, yet responsible and courageous. A courage that entangles her all the more in trouble, and a sense of responsibility that culminates in self-destruction for her. Her role takes shape in relation to her roommate. Otilia initially finds herself in a sororal relationship with her roommate, Gabita, which gradually transforms into a parent-child relationship. Her roommate Gabita is an irresponsible, simple, and awkward girl who maintains a parasitic and dependent connection with Otilia. She is even incapable of booking a hotel. And she lies to advance her affairs, which points to her weakness. The only trouble she is capable of taking upon herself is lying on the bed and awaiting her abortion. Gabita is as harmless as a lamb, and there is no sign of the man she had a relationship with. She is cleansed of her sin, while the filth and defilement fall to Otilia. I understand this as a critique of inaction and passivity, and the cost of responsibility. Gabita leaves her fetus on the bathroom floor and merely tells Otilia that she has gotten rid of it, and that her insistence on burying the fetus can be disregarded—which Otilia, quite rightly, disregards. Otilia is in a parent-child relationship with Gabita and withholds no sacrifice for her, even if that sacrifice comes at the price of submitting to a sexual encounter with a man. This can be read as a taunt directed at marriage. The illegality of abortion, though depicted as painful, grave, and entailing responsibility, grants the right to undergo it solely to women. And it regards this illegality as a form of domination over women's bodies, aiming to subdue and neutralize them into accepting a predetermined role. The director's treatment of the female body is evident from the very first scenes: it is not intended to present an erotic spectacle, but to display it within the very texture of life and reality, accompanied by blood, pain, violation, and so on.

Otilia is also situated in the role of a girlfriend—but one that imposes duties upon her. Such as the obligation to attend the birthday party, and of course, with a certain expected quality. Or the observance of guestly etiquette, such as not smoking, being more present, or saying goodbye, even if she finds herself in the worst of circumstances, or even if it is not part of her plan. It is here that Otilia feels she has been betrayed on all sides and exploited. And she directs her principal accusation at her boyfriend, calling their relationship into question in the dark room (the darkening of the relationship) with questions about their sexual intimacy.

But the foremost element the director seeks to address is Otilia's will—or the will of all women. When she reproaches her boyfriend for his sexual conduct and he proposes marriage, in her interactions with her friend Gabita and with Bebe, the diabolical man, no will is conceivable for Otilia, and she flounders in determinism; her only choice consists in moving from one stage to the next.

Women in this film, with the exception of Otilia, have either become part of the corrupt structure, like the hotel receptionist, or exist in a state of ignorance and irresponsibility toward themselves and society. This can be understood from the conduct of Gabita, the mother, and the guests at Otilia's boyfriend's house. By saying, "I don't want to spend the rest of my life boiling potatoes," Otilia protests against all of this, although this point demands further discussion.

Lastly, if I had the choice to select symbols, I would certainly choose the knife that Otilia inadvertently takes from Bebe's bag. As a symbol of the rage and hatred that remain with Otilia. And another: the bathroom, the place where both girls, at separate times, take refuge in the hotel and at the party. Filthy and unbearable, yet the only possible place for denying reality and everything that lies outside.