By George & Josh Bate
The horrors of parenthood, systemic erasure of values, and potential governmental overreach are thoughtfully interrogated in Fjord, a challenging film destined to be one of the year’s most divisive and inciting outings.
Making its Canadian premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Fjord follows Romanian-Norwegian couple Mihai (Sebastian Stan) and Lisbet (Renate Reinsve), who relocate their family of five children to Lisbet’s home country of Romania. While their move initially goes swimmingly as the kids make new friends, the family’s lives are uprooted when the parents are accused of physically abusing their children.
In a day and age of marked socio-political polarity, seemingly pushing the left and right further to their respective sides, Fjord is in active conversation with troublingly prescient issues. Where are the lines drawn between parental and governmental control over children? Who is the ultimate determinant of what values and education are imposed on our society’s youth? What values are deemed appropriate enough to propagate and which should be shunned? All of these questions (and more) are of interest to filmmaker Christian Mungiu, who applies a surprisingly individualistic, even conservative lens to answering these queries.
Whether the family’s daughter is actually the subject of physical abuse perpetrated by her parents remains purposefully ambiguous in Fjord, but it is not treated as a mystery for the audience to unravel. In fact, the validity of the abuse claim becomes rather secondary to the narrative and its resonant themes as the film appears more concerned with commenting on issues relevant far beyond the scope of a 140+ minute film. Mungiu wants, and overwhelmingly success, at making the audience feel the palpable discomfort of parents whose children are torn from them based on an accusation of abuse and, even more disturbingly, a perceived failure to assimilate to dominant values. Even if one does not align with Mihai and Lisbet’s conservative, evangelical conceptualization on parenthood, Mungiu makes it easy for the audience to transpose their values onto the dilemma at the heart of the film. Especially in a United States quickly descending to new moral lows under the current administration, Fjord makes for unsettling, even haunting viewing as one is forced to consider what would happen if the government found issue with the values we hold and decided to enact the greatest punishment possible for this discrepancy – take away your children.
Bringing the immense anguish and anxiety of the two parents who have incurred such a punishment are Sebastian Stan and Reinsve Renate, both of whom deliver some of the best work of their entire careers. After lurking in the background with little dialogue for much of the first half, Stan steadily grows into the film as the pain caused by losing his children to Child Protective Services endures far longer than he could have ever imagined. Reinsve, meanwhile, is similarly understated in her portrayal of parental misery and, together with Stan, authentically captures a couple whose entire lives have shattered, leaving them to a desperate scramble to pick up the pieces.
In examining issues of potential governmental overreach on parenting practices, Fjord increasingly unfolds as a legal drama, albeit not one in a traditional sense. Yes, there are courtroom scenes in the third act and tons of back-and-forth exchanges between the parents and lawyers and law enforcement, but the film limits these scenes to the bare minimum. In their place are more reflective moments that depict Stan and Reinsve’s characters’ struggle and demand that the audience contemplate uncomfortable issues bubbling under the surface of our sociopolitical landscape.
In doing so, Fjord will sparkle ample conversation and controversy. Some viewers who apply a more reductive approach to understand the film will likely view Mungiu’s work as a necessary piece speaking to the problems caused by overly intrusive, progressive governments all too willing to encroach on individual liberties. For us, however, Fjord is a more nuanced watch. Mungiu isn’t championing the importance of conservative values; instead, he is challenging audiences to consider how similar both sides of the political spectrum can be at times and, even more audaciously, question how far those on the left to champion the freedom for people to believe what they want, even when what people believe is perceived as barbaric or wrong.
VERDICT: 8/10
Fjord, making its Canadian premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, is a challenging film destined to be one of the year’s most divisive and inciting outings, thoughtfully interrogating the horrors of parenthood, systemic erasure of values, and potential governmental overreach. In active conversation with troublingly prescient issues, Christian Mungiu’s film asks where the lines are drawn between parental and governmental control over children, who is the ultimate determinant of what values and education are imposed on society’s youth, and what values are deemed appropriate enough to propagate and which should be shunned. While the validity of the abuse claim at the heart of the film remains purposefully ambiguous, Mungiu is less concerned with treating it as a mystery than with making the audience feel the palpable discomfort of parents whose children are torn from them based on an accusation of abuse and, even more disturbingly, a perceived failure to assimilate to dominant values. Anchored by some of the best work of Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, Fjord authentically captures the anguish and anxiety of a couple whose entire lives have shattered, while its increasingly reflective legal drama demands that audiences contemplate uncomfortable issues bubbling under the surface of our sociopolitical landscape. Rather than championing the importance of conservative values, Mungiu offers a more nuanced watch, challenging audiences to consider how similar both sides of the political spectrum can be at times and, even more audaciously, question how far those on the left will champion the freedom for people to believe what they want, even when what people believe is perceived as barbaric or wrong.
Fjord made its Canadian premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The movie hits U.S. theaters on October 9, courtesy of NEON.