Synopsis
Alina returns to Romania from Germany, hoping to bring Voichita—the only person in the world she loves and was loved by—back with her. But Voichita has found God, and God is the hardest lover of all to best.
2012 ‘După dealuri’ Directed by Cristian Mungiu
Alina returns to Romania from Germany, hoping to bring Voichita—the only person in the world she loves and was loved by—back with her. But Voichita has found God, and God is the hardest lover of all to best.
Cosmina Stratan Cristina Flutur Valeriu Andriuță Dana Tapalagă Cătălina Harabagiu Gina Tandura Vica Agache Nora Covali Luminița Gheorghiu Dionisie Vitcu Ionut Ghinea Liliana Mocanu Doru Ana Costache Babii Alina Berzunțeanu Teodor Corban Călin Chirilă Cristina Cristian Tania Popa Petronela Grigorescu Radu Zetu Ion Sapdaru Diana Chirila Ignat Liana Petrescu Alexandra Agavriloaiei Alexandra Apetrei Noemi Gunea Katia Pascariu Mara Căruțașu Show All…
Vincent Maraval Pascal Caucheteux Cristian Mungiu Luc Dardenne Jean-Pierre Dardenne Bobby Păunescu Grégoire Sorlat
Dana Bunescu Cristinel Sirli Marius Leftarache Mircea Olteanu Cristian Tarnovețchi Andi Arsenie Alexis Marzin Alexandru Dumitru
France 3 Cinéma Why Not Productions Eurimages Wild Bunch Les Films du Fleuve Mobra Films Ciné+ Mandragora Movies Romanian National Center for Cinematography CNC Canal+ France Télévisions
Au-delà des collines, 山之外, După dealuri, 靈慾告白, Yli vuorten, 신의 소녀들, Jenseits der Hügel, Más allá de las colinas, Отвъд хълмовете, Na druhé straně kopců, Πίσω Από Τους Λόφους, آنسوی تپهها, מעבר לגבעות, Dombokon túl, Oltre le colline, 汚れなき祈り, Už kalvų, ബിയോണ്ട് ദി ഹില്സ്, Za wzgórzami, Além das Montanhas, За холмами, Za kopcami, Daleč za griči, Tepelerin Ardında, 非常教慾
”The one who leaves and the one who comes back are not the same.”
Beyond the Hills is a disturbing watch but knowing that it is based on a true story makes the whole experience even more painful. Like Cristian Mungiu’s previous film, the incredible and unforgettable 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 days this is a disheartening portrayal of the friendship between two women where one tries to stop the other one from the ultimate descent into misery and despair. Mungiu narrates this soul-shattering story with sadistic determination and by asking questions which are almost impossible to answer he creates a nightmarish experience which will put the viewers in a state of shock and confusion for days. Mungiu’s style…
Absolutely terrifying.
Uses bleak, observational realism to explore the disturbing true story of a failed exorcism while raising a deeply fascinating (and ethical) argument about what happens when religion and the law lock horns. Honestly unlike anything I’ve ever seen and considering it’s two and a half hours long, it does a damn good job at keeping you on the edge of your seat the entire time, immersing you amongst the oppressive delirium of people completely disconnected from the real world because of the sheer dedication to their faith.
This is nauseating, stripped-back horror at its finest and is 100% deserving of its Best Screenplay and double Best Actress wins at Cannes.
The Criterion Challenge 2021 #19 | 2010s
Based on a real-life exorcism gone wrong, Beyond the Hills is a disturbing and bleak look at superstition and ignorance in rural Romania. Taking place at a monastery, it tells the story of Alina, a young woman living in Germany who returns home to visit and convince her childhood friend to leave with her. Alina’s arrival at the monastery is seen as an intrusion and a distraction from the right path. Having lived a godless life, she is forced to confess, and when she rebels and health issues start escalating, she is accused of not having said everything and presumed to be possessed.
Most of what happens in Beyond the Hills is said…
Beyond the Hills is an infuriating tale on the harm of blind faith. Based on an actual event, it may be a bit too straightforward for my liking and for Cristian Mungiu's standards, but an excellent performance from Cristina Flutur makes everything worthwhile.
Beyond the Hills is admirably bold for putting Christianity and the Romanian medical system on blast as a Romanian production. It's a slow-burn journey of female self-abandonment as a result of queer desire, which isn't the most groundbreaking premise, but thanks to a great acting showcase from Flutur, who rightfully won best actress at Cannes, it makes for an intense experience although the end result is clear from the get-go. It's not my favorite Mungiu, as I felt more boundaries could've been pushed here, but it's also not an experience that I regret.
WARNING: THIS IS A CHRISTIAN'S REVIEW. No religious debate or disrespectful remark, however, is intended, and all statements have the intention of circling around the film.
The most admirable feature about Cristian Mungiu's comeback is that it utilizes two young female lovers to construct a character study that slowly escalates into a complete slap to the face of the Orthodox Church and its resulting completely anti-Biblical religious fanaticism, therefore justifying its running time immediately.
With a cinematography, a camera command and snowy landscapes gorgeously conquered like any legendary European auteur would know how to control, Beyond the Hills bases its story in a series of non-fiction novels written by Romanian writer and former senior editor of the Bucharest Romanian Bureau…
Following his critically acclaimed and award-winning film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days that garnered him international recognition, writer-director Cristian Mungiu returns with a film that is equally masterful, assured and striking. Based on a regrettably true story, Beyond the Hills follows two friends rejoining after years in which they went their own separate ways. After they both left the orphanage, Voichiţa (Cosmina Stratan) became a nun and joined an Orthodox convent while Alina (Cristina Flutur) went to Germany to work as a nanny and waitress. Returning home to convince Voichiţa to go with her to Germany, Alina spends a few weeks with Voichiţa at the convent. During this time, Alina grows increasingly restless as her dear friend seems…
Following his landmark Palme d'Or win for 2007's 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and preceding his shared Best Director win for Graduation, Cristian Mungiu found just as much success at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012 with Beyond the Hills, not only scooping up the Best Screenplay award for himself, but also netting his pair of leading performers the prize for Best Actress. With a style as unapologetically direct and unapproachable as Mungiu's, it's a wonder that the director has been such a consistent hit with any awards body (this is the Cannes crowd, though), but due to that unrelenting approach, a film like Beyond the Hills winds up as a scathing peer into the fractured state of…
Based on a true story of an exorcism gone wrong in an Orthodox monastery, Cristian Mungiu's new film could have been a simple story of innocent girl vs. superstitious religious zealots, but Mungiu never takes the easy route. Instead, he creates layers upon layers of complexity in characters, relationships and motivations until what finally happens acquires the devastating inevitability of Greek tragedy. Most of all, just like in his previous 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, he takes what could have been a mere anecdote and lays bare the societal forces that shape people's actions, be it Communism in the first, or patriarchal religion in this film.
Romanian New Wave director Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond the Hills is an oppressively stark and hauntingly solemn examination of the crisis of faith in people and the clash between worldly desires and religious vows, depicting a seemingly mundane albeit intriguing story that is as powerful as his bleak, cinéma vérité masterpiece 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. It also inexorably flirts with the topic of blind piety, a deed that could do more harm than good even if the intention is of righteousness and innocuous concern. At first, the film reminded me a lot of Black Narcissus, but with a twist on the relationships of the lead players and a deliberately languid pacing, not to mention a sparser, Technicolor-free surrounding.…
I don’t know if I want to give Cristian Mungiu’s Beyond the Hills more points or less now that I know it’s loosely based on a true story. I find it more incredible but yet less considered as allegory is, at best, demoted within the narrative, and at worst not present at all. I’m going for less.
I thought it a rather clever allusion Alina being Voichita’s faith. Without that, and facing that this is something that really happened, kind of spins me around. Either way, though, the two and a half hour run time is excessive. There are only so many viariants of Alina wanting Voichita to leave with her that are needed to make the point. Sometime during…