Romeo Aldea, a doctor living in a small mountain town in Transylvania, has raised his daughter, Eliza, with the expectation that upon turning eighteen, she will leave Romania to study abroad.
His plan is nearing fruition: Eliza has secured a scholarship to study psychology in Great Britain. All that remains is for her to pass her final high school exams—a mere formality for a model student like her. But the day before the written exams, Eliza is assaulted, putting her departure at risk. Now, Romeo is forced to make a decision. There are various ways to resolve the situation, yet none of them align with the principles he, as a father, has taught his daughter.
Best Director Award at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival
"Graduation chronicles the impasse of an incurably corrupt society, possessing the crystalline clarity of a political pamphlet. Yet, Mungiu does not rely on abstract axioms or pre-established theses. Instead, he focuses his gaze on the concrete actions, choices, and crises of his characters, uncovering the broader political and social implications through the lens of the individual. He avoids over-dramatizing, sensationalizing, or inflaming the narrative; rather, he employs his signature techniques—following his characters closely, utilizing long-take dialogue sequences, allowing scenes to unfold in real time, and harnessing the emotional intensity inherent in the passage of duration. His cinema appears to show nothing, and yet it reveals everything—acting as an unblinking, relentless mirror. It feels as suffocating as the world it depicts, yet it is animated by a dizzying restlessness, as if permeated by a seed of explosive madness—the very kind that fuels our own rage and despair. It is a force that shatters the glass, allowing the full density of reality to pour into the confines of the frame." (Aldo Spiniello)
