Alexandru Ionașcu
It may not be common knowledge, but in Romania there is a big taboo surrounding mental health. Romanian men in particular stubbornly refuse to go to therapy, no matter how much those around them show them how toxic their behavior is. The average heterosexual Romanian man does not think about his mental health at all, let alone reflect on how his behavior affects others. As the world changes, there is increasing discussion in Romania about mental health and toxic behaviors and attitudes, but what was the situation like in the past? By “the past,” I mean the years before the COVID pandemic. But in the pre-pandemic past, things were a little different. Let’s see how different.
Toma and Ana are two relatively poor students (by Romanian poverty standards, students are only moderately poor) who study literature, which means they will discuss things that are completely uninteresting to others as if nothing else exists. If you think that the philological discussions of the two protagonists are from the reactionary right, you are right and should consider yourselves budding screenwriters—the sad truth is that, in the 2000s, Romanian literature departments were dominated by right-wing currents. Regardless of what is discussed in a literature department, the outside world exists, and in everyday reality, Ana suffers from anxiety and depression, while Toma tries to be there for her and, above all, to understand the mental problems his partner is facing. Probably believing himself to be a kind of psychologist, Toma thinks that Ana’s relationship with her stepfather is the cause of her anxiety, but his partner is always reluctant to discuss her relationship with her parents. Nevertheless, the relationship between the two continues, and at one point Toma also goes to therapy, and his interactions with the psychologist played by Adrian Titieni represent the present of the narrative. This means that Toma will break up with Ana, but before that they will have a child and Ana will reproach her partner for his increasingly visible jealousy.
Ana, mon amour is based on a novel by writer Cezar-Paul Bădescu, called Luminița, mon amour (very original, I know), and is a film directed by Călin Peter Netzer, known for Child’s Pose, which won the Golden Bear at the 2013 Berlinale. This means that here too we will see themes typical of Călin Peter Netzer, such as generational conflict and men who live in their own world and are therefore aggressive or potentially aggressive. Being a Romanian film, we will see details that are interesting for ethnology students, such as Romanians’ obsession with the second course at lunch, soup as the main course regardless of the event, but especially when someone comes to visit you. What ethnologists watching this film do not expect is the scene in which Toma has to sleep in the same bed as Ana’s stepfather. Sometimes communist apartment blocks are simply not spacious enough. As usual, parents intervene in their children’s relationships, and sons accuse their fathers of collaborating with the former communist secret police, something that can be observed in many Romanian millennial families.
Among the films of the Romanian New Wave, Ana, mon amour is known for its unsimulated sex scene at the beginning, a tradition that will be continued by Radu Jude. The two characters evolve in opposition. While Ana, played by Diana Cavallioti, is initially traumatized and suffers from panic attacks, therapy helps her build a career and successfully navigate her other career, that of motherhood. Meanwhile, her partner Toma becomes jealous and, when he finally goes to a psychologist, his frustrations after the end of the relationship cause him to fantasize about the death of his ex-wife. Romanian men are reluctant to go to therapy, do not seek to understand their emotions, and blame their partner, parents, or even the former communist security services, because it is well understood that they will do so. Călin Peter Netzer’s film captures the prejudices in Romanian society regarding mental illness. Toma’s parents are suspicious of Ana, and his father, played by Vasile Muraru, rejects her without hesitation, leading to conflict with his son and accusations of being a secret police agent. Carmen Tănase plays the typical mother of a millennial, constantly torn between her son’s desire to go his own way, independent of his parents, and his father’s lack of understanding.
In the evolution of a relationship, we also find an X-ray of present-day Romanian society, in which heterosexual men do not want to confront their problems, women struggle with traumas originating in families that are themselves affected by the difficulties of a turbulent social history, and the past is still present.
Ana, mon amour (2017), directed by Călin Peter Netzer, starring Diana Cavaliotti, Mircea Postelnicu, and Carmen Tănase
Photo: (source: Ana, mon amour)
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