Cannes: Mungiu’s ‘R.M.N.’ explores xenophobia in central Europe

Romanian director Cristian Mungiu has returned to the Cannes Film Festival competition with a downbeat social drama confronting xenophobia in central Europe.

Set in a multi-ethnic village in Transylvania, ‘R.M.N.’ begins with factory worker Matthias returning from Germany to his impoverished village. The close-knit village’s calm veneer is shaken when residents, among them ethnic Hungarians, oppose the hiring of Sri Lankan workers in a local bread factory.

“(Transylvania) stands a lot for what Europe and the world is today in the time of globalization, which is a territory where a lot of people came earlier, or later, and there is something to dispute – how are we going to co-exist here?” Mungiu told a press conference in Cannes on Monday.

“Le cinéma a ce pouvoir de rassembler. Et ce soir en particulier, il montre que notre monde pourrait être merveilleux, s’il était en paix.” L’adresse de Cristian MUNGIU au public (et son clin d’œil Tilda SWINTON ) après la projection de R.M.N. #Compétition #Cannes2022 #RangI pic.twitter.com/Y1Kfe4BgOc

— Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) May 22, 2022

The factory manager is Matthias’s ex-lover Csilla, a Hungarian who protects the workers from violent acts of intimidation and tries in vain to prevent their expulsion.

Mungiu, who won the Palme d’Or for ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days’, said his latest film’s themes of xenophobia and distrust of globalization were universal.

He said he has experienced being stereotyped as a Roma, an ethnic minority from Romania, stigmatized in many European countries. Mungiu has said he does not identify as Roma.

C’est dans la boîte ! – It’s a wrap ! #Photocall R.M.N. by Cristian MUNGIU #Cannes2022 #Competition pic.twitter.com/JthVc4wY7N

— Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) May 22, 2022

“You can’t change the way people (simplify) reality and (use) stereotypes about the other,” he said.

The title ‘R.M.N.’ stands for the Romanian acronym for magnetic resonance imaging, a brain examination procedure that Matthias’s sick father underwent.

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