DVD Review: Child's Pose

STUDIO: Zeitgeist | DIRECTOR: Calin Peter Netzer | CAST: Luminita Gheorghiu, Bogdan Dumitrache, Natasa Raab, Ilinca Goia, Florin Zambirescu, Vlad Ivanov
BLU-RAY & DVD RELEASE DATE: 5/27/2014 | PRICE: DVD $29.99
BONUSES: deleted scene, behind-the-scenes footage
SPECS: NR |112 min. | Foreign language drama | 2.35:1 widescreen | 5.1 surround | Romanian with English subtitles

RATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie | Audio | Video | Overall

Calin Peter Ngtzer’s 2013 drama Child’s Pose (winner of the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival) is both a compelling character study as well as an expose of the bureaucratic corruption still lingering in Romania, the residue of Communism.

Cornelia (Luminita Gheorghiu) is a cosmopolitan Bucharest architect whose carer success has cost her strained relations with her husband and adult son. When the son, Bardu (Bogdan Dumitrache), is involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident, relationships reach a breaking point and Cornelia is forced to use her money, connections and, ultimately, her deepest emotional resources to try and save him.

Luminita Gheorghiu is smoking in Child's Pose.

Gheorghiu dominates in a stunning tour de force. Hardened and chain smoking (even when counseling her son’s girlfriend not to smoke), she arrives at the police station swathed in furs and immediately takes charge. Later, she crumbles into a vulnerability that borders on the delusional. (Or is she craftily playing the victim card…?)

The other performances are excellent, especially Ilinca Goia as Bardu’s put-upon girlfriend and Vlad Ivanov in a terrific cameo as a witness.

The film is shot with a single handheld camera which adds to the intensity. A brilliant touch comes in the excruciating climactic encounters between Cornelia and Bardu and the family of the victim: Cornelia’s meeting is filmed in close-ups; Bardu’s in long shots through a car window and rearview mirror.

Not lighthearted fare, Child’s Pose is a richly rewarding addition to the growing canon of contemporary Romanian cinema that includes Corneliu Porumboiu’s 12:08 East of Bucharest and Police, Adjective.

Note to opera buffs: Romanian soprano Leontina Vaduva, a European favorite, appears as herself in a charming turn that finds her conducting a master class.