Romanian rabble-rouser Radu Jude takes on scolds, snitches and rightwing moralisers in this tart, teasing satire about a school teacher whose sex tape goes viral. The tripartite structure allows the writer-director to explore the drama from three angles. Jude observes, documentary-style, the current mood on the streets of Bucharest as his recently exposed protagonist Emi (Katia Pascariu) attempts to carry out her errands; another chapter sees an absurdist mock trial with her students’ parents.
The cleverest part is the experimental middle section, a “short dictionary of anecdotes, signs and wonders”. A damning mini-essay about Romania’s cultural and political history, it playfully unpacks the conservative attitudes expressed by Emi’s critics.
