Scandinavian premiere:
Humoresque
94 year-old Maria is a woman who her whole life performed hard manual labour under the communist dictatorship. The regime, of whose fall she is completely unaware, rewarded her with a retirement pension so meagre that it does not even cover the costs of a burial. In retrospect life’s few bright spots have been provided by her 15-year-younger partner. Even if the people in the village still laugh at them. Due to a change in Romanian law intended to aid newly-wed couples, Maria sees a chance to earn a little extra money. In her sunset years she is finally going to marry her man.
This renowned Romanian film wonder has dominated all international film festivals in recent years. Constructed like a silent movie with Romanian proverbs on titles interspersed throughout and to the strains of the works of Dvorak, Diana Delanau’s prize-winning Humoresque with its playfully cynical critique of Ceausescu’s dictatorship serves as yet another proof that the best films right now are being made in Romania.
