4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days and 113 excruciating minutes

I said I was going to lighten up, and then, THEN, tonight, for reasons I can hardly explain, I decided to go and see 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days. WHAT was I thinking? – is all I can ask myself. It won the Cannes Palme d’Or, but don’t be deceived into thinking that means there will be anything redeeming in the story. As one review says, this is a movie about serious problems, with a serious approach – and there is not ONE bright moment in the entire film, neither in the story nor the bleakness of 1980's Romania. I have never seen a movie of such unrelenting grimness. Having been in the situation in the past of telling a friend that I would help them do almost anything but I wasn’t going to help them have an abortion (because I believe it’s wrong, and I don’t believe in defying God in the name of friendship, and neither do I believe that actually being a good friend means helping your friends do whatever they choose to do) I think one of the greatest tragedies in the story is Otilia, the friend. The closing line of the film is Otilia saying "what we are going to do, is we are never going to talk about this". And that is all I am going to say. It IS powerful, and it certainly does show the awful reality of that situation, and I can appreciate all the things that make it a very good piece of film making, but I don’t recommend that anyone, EVER, go and see it. I covered my face and sunk in my seat and I am just not sure that I’m ever going to get over it.

So, you and I will have to wait for something else to effect a lightening up I'm afraid. But this upcoming movie, Bella, looks like more the thing.