Beyond the Hills is a 2012 Romanian drama film following two young women at an Orthodox convent in Romania.
When twenty-something Alina arrives in Moldavia to remove her childhood friend Voichita from an Orthodox nunnery, she doesn’t reckon on the unyielding force of religion. Behind the bare convent walls the devout Voichita’s choice of God over Alina brings their relationship to a physical and moral crisis.
His first feature since the Palme d’Or-winning 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS, gifted Romanian director Cristian Mungiu’s unsettling psychological drama won the Best Screenplay award at Cannes and draws excellent performances from his first-time lead actors, who shared the Best Actress gong at Cannes.
Subtitled.
Awards
- Won Cannes Film Festival Awards 2012 for: Best Actress Cristina Flutur & Cosmina Stratan, Best Screenplay
- Nominated for Cannes Film Festival 2012, Palme d'Or
- Won Mar del Plata Film Festival Award 2012, Best Film
- Nominated Satellite Award 2012, Best Motion Picture, International Film
- Nominated Chicago International Film Festival 2012, Gold Hugo Award, Best International Feature
- Nominated Hamburg Film Festival 2012, Art Cinema Award
- Won Thessaloniki Film Festival 2012, Audience Award
Beyond the Hills Reviews
“Cristian Mungiu's "Beyond the Hills” moves so effortlessly through the gnarly intersection of love, loss, God and godlessness that you barely notice how much he's doing, and with such effortless grace." Newsday
“The deliberate pace Mungiu employs in this incredible work is so engrossing and quietly heartbreaking that its philosophical ending may come as a shock.” New York Daily News
“It is a haunting movie, dealing with superstitions, possession, even exorcism, one in which Mungiu poses no easy answers, because there are none to be found.” Arizona Republic
“Deceivingly complex, with an emotional center that peels away like an onion the longer it unfolds, this is a powerful effort from Mungiu in which love and faith are both different kinds of poison” The Playlist
“Exorcist junkies should look elsewhere. Instead of spinning heads and projectile puke, Mungiu offers nuance and provocation. The result is quietly devastating.” Rolling Stone
“This singular director refuses to offer judgment or omniscient analysis. The film abounds with striking images and dry, dry humour.” Irish Times
“Beyond the Hills” seethes with astonishment and rage at a broken society marooned between the 21st century and the 16th." Boston Globe
“The film's final shot goes straight to the story's heart and the spectator's. Amazing grace. Now at last we know what those words mean.” Financial Times
""Beyond the Hills" is a tough and engrossing work of realism, set in rural Romania in the dead of winter, but it also has some of the shadowy magic of an ancient folk tale." New York Times
“A soul-scorching drama about the monsters of our past that skulk just over the horizon.” Daily Telegraph UK
“…quiet, but also quietly devastating, with detours down the roads of intolerance, mercilessness, cold rejection of outsiders' experiences, mystical and subjective interpretation of "signs,” overt woman-on-woman misogyny and brutally strict penance…" movies.com