Fjord: is the 2026 Palme d’Or reactive?
With Fjord, the Romanian Cristian Mungiu won his second Palme d’Or. His thriller pits good, progressive Norwegian society against a family of evangelists from Romania. It remains to be seen where the filmmaker really stands. Responses from the person concerned.
Reac? Complex ? Manipulative? Anti-woke? So much for this little piece of Norwegian ice scrutinized by the Romanian Cristian Mungiu in his Fjord and which allowed him to win a new Palme d’Or nineteen years later 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days. We follow the misadventures of the Gheorghiu, a family of evangelists from Romania who arrive with their five children in a village in Norway. The parents are played on screen by the American-Romanian star Sebastian Stan (the Trump of The Apprentice this time without blonde hair) and the Norwegian Renate Reinsve (Julie in 12 chapters, Sentimental value…)
On site, the rather friendly and open-minded residents agree to “neighbor” with these otherwise discreet oddballs. Until the day when the eldest Gheorghiu presented bruises on her body and did not seem to refute the suspicions weighing on her parents. Two representatives from Child Welfare immediately arrive at their home to take away custody of the children.
Cristian Mungiu first shows how the machine to crush the presumption of innocence is based on a frank polarization of points of view. On the one hand the inevitably evil Romanian evangelists, on the other the good Norwegian woke society with unassailable legitimacy.
His film will seek to question this binary even if it means overturning it. This is where the problem lies for some, accusing the filmmaker of cunning supposed to play into the hands of nationalists who are happy to accuse progressives of dangerous extremists.
“ The film is a commitment against all forms of fundamentalismhowever defended the president of the Cannes jury Park Chan-wook to justify his choice. A message for tolerance, inclusion, empathy. »
Cristian Mungiu was caught a few days after obtaining his Palme to demand that he justify himself.
With Fjord, Cristian Mungiu breaks the ice (review)
Selected pieces:
“My duty as a filmmaker is not to flatter one side over another but to restore a certain truth. I establish – and I accept it – a link between a certain form of progressive extremism and its reactionary counterpart. Those we call progressive – and I can include myself in this category – have lost this ability to question themselves, to question some of their excesses (…) From the moment a population becomes a minority, any self-respecting progressive must protect it.”
“The family that inspired the screenplay was an evangelist. My research has shown that the points of tension mainly relate to religious issues. In two and a half hours, I try to show the singularity and complexity of this family beyond the image that we might have of it a priori. That’s a filmmaker’s challenge. There is nothing ideological about it. For the spectator, I agree, the process is not simple.”
“The cinematic language is abstract. No one can provide a unambiguous reading of what they see or believe they have seen. I can assure you that the placement of my camera does not respond to any ideological agenda. This is why I mainly shoot in sequence shots. It’s not meant to impress – most spectators don’t even notice them. No: they allow the most egalitarian view possible. When I have three people in my frame, my obsession, the only question I ask myself is: how can I reveal the dramatic power of the scene? I never wonder how to enhance or overwhelm this or that character. It’s ridiculous to think that…“‘
“Where is the truth? This is precisely the question that runs through the entire film. It would have seemed dishonest to me to hand out good and bad points at the end of the story.“
Fjord by Cristian Mungiu. With: Renate Reinsve, Sebastian Stan, Lisa Carlehed… Duration: 2h26. Released August 19.
