CS Weekly Archive > Weekend Read > 04/28/06

Death Goes On

By james napoli

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
(In Rumanian with English Subtitles)

Cristi Puiu, Razvan Radulescu (former also directed)

All we know of 62-year-old Mr. Lazarescu (Ion Fiscuteanu) is that he lives in squalor, adores his three cats, and has not quit drinking, though advised to after a surgery years ago. When he gets a terrible headache accompanied by nausea, faraway relatives and nearer neighbors attribute it to booze. In fact, it is something far worse, and a harried E.M.T. (Mioara Avram) will spend the next six hours shuttling Lazarescu around various Bucharest hospitals in an effort to, if not save his life, at least end his pain. The screenwriters take their lead character, and us, through an evening of emergency room procedure, bureaucracy, and ego-driven hierarchy that is by turns harrowing, inspiring, and heartbreaking. The bare bones approach to character works terrifically here; yes, Lazarescu is consumed by something beyond his control, but he is also partly responsible for his fate, and is forced into an indifference about it that echoes the impersonal nature of the system itself. All of the supporting characters are invested with strong, complicated personalities, and by the time this odyssey of the everyday is over, human lives caught up in a slow, almost banal continuum of inevitability provide a pulse that beats on well after the final frame. A notable achievement for a film about dying.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

Tartan Films
Rated R; 150 min.

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James Napoli has a Masters Degree from the London International Film School, wrote and directed two award-winning short films, teaches a creative writing class for screenwriters, and is the head writer of live original radio plays for XM Satellite Radio's New Frequency.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu courtesy Tartan Films

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