Pssst, want to check out Moartea domnului Lãzãrescu in our new look?
Information
- A.k.a.
- The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
- Year
- 2005
- Runtime
- 153 min.
- Director
- Cristi Puiu
- Genre
- Drama
- Rating *
- 8.0
- Votes *
- 9,712
- Checks
- 2,045
- Favs
- 211
- Dislikes
- 19
- Favs/checks
- 10.3% (1:10)
- Favs/dislikes
- 11:1
Top comments
-
chryzsh
Terrific movie! Is has a ton of momentum so don't be scared of the length. 8 years 5 months ago -
toopsy
This has been misclassified as a dark comedy, when there is no comedy in it whatsoever. It is a superbly realistic drama. We are slowly introduced to the man as he happens to be waiting for ambulance, and he's real to the core - a retired engineer whose wife died years ago, he lives in a modest, cluttered apartment keeping three cats for company, tending to his flowerpots and drinking himself to death due to the pervasive loneliness. He is a gentle soul, but to the outside world he is a poor old man with nothing left to offer, basically ignored by his surroundings. His longtime neighbours, as much as they pity the wreck that he's become, clearly retain some of the respect towards him, still referring to him (perhaps partly mockingly) as 'Mr engineer' and 'intellectual'.
Knowing more about him than doctors and nurses to which he is no more than an irresponsible drunkman, we are bound to emphatize seeing him treated with little or no respect at each of his arrivals to the three different hospitals. The movie is an exercise in patience not only due to the realistic display of the uneffective Romanian healthcare system, but also the egotistical medical staff determined to remain unhurried and unconcerned despite the emergency.
The detail I was particularly fond of is how he repeated his name on request, "Lazarescu Dante Remus", on multiple occasions throughout the movie, but each time with less vigour, until his condition deteriorated so much that he couldn't even understand the request. Somehow this felt very personal to me. He's pronounced that name so many times in his life, same as each of us pronounce ours in our day-to-day lives. It is who we are, his was who he was. It instilled a sense of closeness and made him feel dearer to me, for which it only made it harder to watch him being mistreated.
Another detail that touched me was what he blabbed about semiconsciously while lying on the stretcher. It was about how he went to the market the other day to exchange the flower seeds he bought, as they had sold him the wrong kind of seed. :( How so very real...
If you like this movie, there's another one from Romania that you might also like: "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" (2007). 7 years 8 months ago -
daisyaday
This is drama, not comedy. There is nothing funny in this movie because they were not making a comedy. It is a statement about how a drunk, elderly, lonely, sick man is treated by health care professionals and I find it mesmerizing. Maybe one needs to be old and sick to understand it. 11 years 9 months ago
Friends
Login to see which of your friends have seen this movie!In 10 official lists
-
This movie ranks #3 in Asociatia Criticilor de Film's Best Romanian Films
Asociatia Criticilor de …
3 -
This movie ranks #44 in TSPDT's 21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films
TSPDT's 21st Century's M…
44 -
This movie ranks #90 in Arts & Faith's Top 100 Films
Arts & Faith's Top 100 F…
90 -
This movie ranks #202 in The New York Times's Book of Movies
The New York Times's Boo…
202 -
This movie ranks #232 in Time Out's 1000 Films to Change Your Life
Time Out's 1000 Films to…
232 -
This movie ranks #270 in Empire's The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time
Empire's The 500 Greates…
270 -
This movie ranks #339 in Harvard's Suggested Film Viewing: Narrative Films
Harvard's Suggested Film…
339 -
This movie ranks #491 in Sight & Sound's The Greatest Films of All Time
Sight & Sound's The Grea…
491 -
This movie ranks #496 in TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films
TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest F…
496 -
This movie ranks #510 in Mark Cousins's The Story of Film: An Odyssey
Mark Cousins's The Story…
510