QUOD ERAT DEMONSTRANDUM

As the title suggests, the drama QUOD ERAT DEMOSTRANDUM displays a certain affinity with academia and advanced mathematics. As such, the film goes against the grain of the Romanian New Wave. The old-school patina, moreover, is deepened by the plain black-and-white that produces grey tones, indeterminate zones in which it is difficult to make (political and ethical) distinctions. The greyness of 1980s life under communism – hardly surprising in a work about the Securitate, an old institution (that has faded into oblivion in neo-capitalist times obsessed with attaining the EU lifestyle). The omnipresent agency set about depriving citizens of any sense of existential security while claiming to provide for the security of the state. It has long been known that the agency dominated professional and private life in Ceauşescu’s realm. However, Grzsnickzki is interested not only in the irresolvable moral pressures faced by the victims (Sorin, who is uncompromising, Elena, who wants to get out), but also in the biographies of the perpetrators (Lucian, the informal agent, Florin, the careerist), in the unstable, fragile aspects of their lives. Grey (and gruesome) ersatz revenge, the opposite extreme of repressed paranoia – plenty of scope for a psycho-thriller that outdoes THE LIVE OF OTHERS in narrative force and intellectual clout.

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ANDREI GRUZSNICZKI
Born 1962 in Ploieşti, Romania.
After graduating in drama he worked as assistant director on Lucian Pintilie’s films TERMINUS PARADIS / NEXT STOP PARADISE and NIKI ARDELEAN, COLONEL ÎN REZERVǍ / NIKI AND FLO. His first feature CEALALTẶ IRINA / THE OTHER IRENE (2008) ran in the Highlights section at goEast 2008 and won awards at various Romanian and international festivals.

FILMOGRAPHY (SELECTION)
2007 / CRONICA UNEI MORŢI AMÂNATE / CHRONICLE OF A DEATH FORETOLD
2009 / CEALALTẶ IRINA / THE OTHER IRENE
2011 / TRASEU / JOURNEY
2013 / QUOD ERAT DEMONSTRANDUM