The impact of Romania's communist past on its consumerist present is exposed in this droll satire, which follows smalltown teen Andreea Bosneag to Bucharest to film a commercial as her prize in a soft-drink promo. But with the director and sponsor squabbling over the concept and parents putting their daughter under pressure, her special day soon becomes an ordeal.
Using gridlocked roads and repetitions to emphasise the country’s lack of direction, Radu Jude lampoons outmoded provincial attitudes, yet it’s Bosneag’s shift from sullen rebel to supreme manipulator that makes it so comically compelling.