In the waning days before Ceausescu’s regime collapsed, Nela, the rebellious daughter of a former Securitate colonel, refuses to follow her sister’s path into the ranks of the feared political police. After her father’s death, she leaves Bucharest in search of a new life and lands in a provincial town, where she meets Mitica, a sardonic local surgeon who, like her, survives the absurdity of Romania’s crumbling system with defiant humor. Together, they navigate a world teetering between tragedy and farce, forging an unlikely connection amid the chaos.
The film was Romania’s official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 1992 Academy Awards, bringing international attention to Romanian cinema of the post-communist era.
