4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007, Romanian)

Watching 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, I couldn't help but keep thinking of Persepolis - in both films, the lives of the characters, most specifically the lives of the female characters, are greatly circumscribed by the political climate of the country they're living in. Despite the gulf of differences between Romanian and Iranian culture, not to mention the stylistic differences of the films themselves, they essentially say the same thing about the devastating impact political totalitarianism has on the individual psyche.

But while the scope of Persepolis is wide, 4 Months focuses on the individual event as monument. In the span of less than a single day, two friends living in late Communist Romania must procure an abortion for one of them. The lengths to which one goes for the other are both heartening - everyone should be lucky enough to have a friend like this - and utterly horrifying. Though only one of the two is undergoing the procedure, both of their lives are forever changed in this short span of time. In fact, it's the woman who did not have the abortion who may come away from this day most damaged. 4 Months is a gut-wrenching film, but not always for the reasons you'd think - I found a simple argument between one of the women and her boyfriend to be nearly as difficult to watch as the sequence dealing with the abortion itself. The story is presented in a spare, absolutely minimalist style. At times you can see little more than the backdrop of a room and one character talking or thinking. It's not the style alone that gives the film its sense of absolute realism, but all of the parts that end up running together. I came away from 4 Months wondering who to recommend it to - in a way, no one in particular and everyone I know.