Rather than wasting energy bad-mouthing Romania's communist regime, Tales from the Golden Age takes an affectionate look at the absurdity it wrought. Divided into five episodes, the film adapts well-known urban legends to recreate the period of rule by Nicolae Ceausescu. Ironically referred to as the “golden age” of Romania's history, this was a time when you never really knew what you were getting, even if you'd paid for it. Though the film was conceived by Cristian Mungiu, directorial duties have been split among five helmers, four of which – excluding Mungiu himself – have never tried their hand at feature filmmaking before.
Mixing hilarity with underlying apprehension, the first episode documents a town's frenetic preparations for an official state visit. Worn out by the exorbitant demands of the organizing committee, the locals end up drunk on a carousel at a nearby fair.
Taking us a step closer to government headquarters is a story about the events that hindered the party paper from getting published one day. When French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing visited Bucharest, photographs revealed him to be rather more imposing than Ceausescu – a fault soon rectified by some impromptu photo-altering.
We next follow a conscientious truck driver who is forbidden to make any stops on his long voyage. When his wheels are stolen, he discovers that he's been carting a very intriguing cargo.
Demonstrating the relationship between politics and food, a police officer decides he must devise a way to silently kill a pig so he can avoid sharing the feast with his neighbours. Convinced it would be easiest to gas the poor animal, he turns his kitchen into a death chamber with predictably destruct-ive results.
The final instalment follows a Bonnie-and-Clyde-like couple as they con people out of their empty bottles. Though we can only guess at who's who behind this five-part satire, it's a relief to know that Romanian comedy is still going strong despite the loss of Cristian Nemescu.
Dimitri Eipides
Cristian Mungiu was born in Iasi, Romania. His previous films include Occident (02) and 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days (07), which screened at the Festival and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Ioana Uricaru was born in Romania. She has made the short film The Sun and the Moon (07).
Hanno Höfer was born in Timisoara, Romania. His short films include Dincolo/On the Other Side (98) and Humanitarian Aid (01).
Razvan Marculescu was born in Romania. He wrote and directed the shorts Cristi and Vera (97) and Bus (98).
Constantin Popescu was born in Romania. His short films include Water (07) and Smiling Yellow Face (08).