Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is a sadly funny film that tells the story of an old man whom no one really knows or cares about. When he falls ill and needs medical treatment, he faces a team of busy doctors who are concerned because they have to be, not because they really care. Running just over 2-1/2 hours, this Romanian film allows the viewer to visualize how suffocatingly slow time must seem for Lazarescu (Ion Fiscuteanu), who isn't expecting the best treatment--just any treatment would be nice. With the exception of a conscientious paramedic, there doesn't seem to be much concern whether he lives or dies. TV viewers have been weaned on medical dramas such as ER, Chicago Hope, and House--all of which depict physicians who will go to all lengths to cure their patients. While noble and entertaining, these series probably offer less realism than The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, in which lack of funds and staff don't allow time for suitable bedside manner. No one is vilified, not even some of the hospital staff that is disgusted by the side effects of their patients' illnesses. The story is well told in a humane and mesmerizing manner that yanks at the heartstrings while still eliciting a laugh or two. --Jae-Ha Kim
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: Romanian ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Romanian ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Anamorphic Widescreen, Cast/Crew Interview(s), Interactive Menu, Production Notes, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: The grinding ordeal endured by the ailing title character of "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu," a thorny masterpiece by the Romanian director Cristi Puiu, concludes well after 3 a.m. in a Bucharest hospital as he lies dying, unattended on a gurney. That's more than five hours after this 62-year-old patient (Ion Fiscuteanu) is carted by ambulance from his shabby, foul-smelling apartment to the first of four unwelcoming city hospitals. As the hours slip away, his strength deteriorates and his speech declines from gnarly complaining to barely audible nonsense into silence. The two-and-a-half hour film views this late-night descent of the allegorically named Dante Remus Lazarescu through circles of medical hell observed with eyes that are dispassionate but far from cold. A sustained triumph of ensemble acting, the film seems so absolutely real it absorbs you into its world the same way a documentary like Frederick Wiseman's 1970 "Hospital" seeps into your consciousness. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Cannes Film Festival, European Film Awards, ...The Death of Mr. Lazarescu ( Moartea domnului Lazarescu )
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
A masterpiece, for sure. This is another one of those jaw-dropping performances-that-aren't-really-performances so common in world cinema and so uncommon in Hollywood. Ion Fiscuteanu is just utterly perfect as Dante Remus Lazarescu. He is so completely watchable. All that time in his company and I was gripped till the end. But it's not just him. All of the other actors/actresses were also pitch-perfect. Even relatively minor characters were fascinatingly played. This is brilliant, naturalistic filmmaking. And, yes, there is some comedy (largely in the form of two of the doctors) seamlessly woven into the overall fabric of the film which feels more like a horrific, inevitable, Greek tragedy.
The ultimate optimism of the film lies in the great humanity embodied by the female paramedic - earthy, weary, but wholly decent - and one of the doctors - an ethereal, angelic, saintly presence in the midst of so much medico-heartlessness, arrogance and recklessness. A unique and essential work of art.
The ultimate optimism of the film lies in the great humanity embodied by the female paramedic - earthy, weary, but wholly decent - and one of the doctors - an ethereal, angelic, saintly presence in the midst of so much medico-heartlessness, arrogance and recklessness. A unique and essential work of art.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This film had my (Romanian) wife cringing in the corner of the sofa. The portrait of the Romanian medical system was axactly as we have seen it in Romania except that the hospitals in the film seemed cleaner and there was no bribery. You can watch this as a strightforward documentary - it isn't exaggerated.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Mr Lazarescu is a magnificent, humane piece of cinema. It is also that rare thing, a film which dares to ask of it's audience. In what it expects them to endure: an almost real time depiction of the slow and painful death of a frail old man, but also in how it allows them to empathise with the characters.
Give your film a handsome, eloquent old man with cancer and everyone feels sorry for him. Here, the main character is alternately stubborn, passive and confused as he is sent from hospital to hospital, and it's suggested his drinking may be at least partly responsible for his illness. Poor Mr Lazarescu doesn't live up to the expectations of one other reviewer here, but for those who appreciate a protaganist who reflects our own likely failings, rather than an idealised version of ourselves, Mr L is more sympathetic than any Tom Cruise or George Clooney hero.
This complexity also extends to the other characters. The medical staff Lazarescu encounters treat him with often horrifying disrespect, but rather than make them wantonly callous, they are given some justification by swamping them with the fall out of a massive car accident, (what would be the focus of most pics plays out in the background in extremely effective fashion).
Being forced to respond in a nuanced way like this is deeply rewarding, as any fan of great TV like The Wire will tell you, and Mr Lazarescu has a similar power to make you forget you are watching a film at all. The cast give uniformly excellent, naturalistic performances.
And yes, the film is funny, not in the unsparing depiction of illness and mortality, but the early part of the film, in which very little actually happens, which has plenty of gentle, observational comedy reminiscent of Mike Leigh or Lukas Moodysson as Lazarescu's neighbours interact.
Give your film a handsome, eloquent old man with cancer and everyone feels sorry for him. Here, the main character is alternately stubborn, passive and confused as he is sent from hospital to hospital, and it's suggested his drinking may be at least partly responsible for his illness. Poor Mr Lazarescu doesn't live up to the expectations of one other reviewer here, but for those who appreciate a protaganist who reflects our own likely failings, rather than an idealised version of ourselves, Mr L is more sympathetic than any Tom Cruise or George Clooney hero.
This complexity also extends to the other characters. The medical staff Lazarescu encounters treat him with often horrifying disrespect, but rather than make them wantonly callous, they are given some justification by swamping them with the fall out of a massive car accident, (what would be the focus of most pics plays out in the background in extremely effective fashion).
Being forced to respond in a nuanced way like this is deeply rewarding, as any fan of great TV like The Wire will tell you, and Mr Lazarescu has a similar power to make you forget you are watching a film at all. The cast give uniformly excellent, naturalistic performances.
And yes, the film is funny, not in the unsparing depiction of illness and mortality, but the early part of the film, in which very little actually happens, which has plenty of gentle, observational comedy reminiscent of Mike Leigh or Lukas Moodysson as Lazarescu's neighbours interact.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Smaller life, smaller death
First Romanian film I've seen.
You're in an old engineers stinky cats flat; he's throwing up on his slippers, and dying slowly in his wooly hat. Read more
You're in an old engineers stinky cats flat; he's throwing up on his slippers, and dying slowly in his wooly hat. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Jan Mecir
Where's the accused?
I found 'The Death of Mr Lazarescu' difficult viewing at first, not for its subject matter, but its pace (slow) before it grips your interest. Read more
Published 10 months ago by PrideParkforever
Doctors don't care, the poor eat dirt and the Pope is Catholic
There is no doubt that The death of Mr Lazarescu is a well-made film. It is emotionally engaging, in that you care about the poor beleaguered Mr L, but only in the sense that you... Read more
Published on 2 Oct 2009 by Chancery Stone
Getting the Run Around in Emergency Rooms
Mr. Lazarescu is an elderly man living in a rather messy apartment with several cats in Bucharest, Romania. Read more
Published on 2 Feb 2008 by Erika Borsos
Wins 2007 BBC4 World Cinema Best Film
Just thought you might like to know it's just won Best Film at the 2007 BBC4 World Cinema awards, beating Volver, Hidden, etc etc.
Published on 26 Jan 2007 by J. C. Henderson
Few laughs
Although I was gripped enough to endure to the end of this film, it failed to raise any laughs for me, despite being promising black comedy material. Read more
Published on 5 Jan 2007 by J. Von Der Becke
Remarkable
This is a must see film, a superb piece of (Romanian) cinema. It's a meditation on life, death and loneliness. Read more
Published on 7 Nov 2006 by MrSkull
the most important film of the year
The Death of Mr Lazarescu is the most important film of the year. It is also the most important Romanian film ever made. Read more
Published on 12 Sep 2006 by Bogdan Tiganov
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
