The Long Take of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
The film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days was shot by Romanian director Mungiu and was released in France on August 27, 2007. The film is about the abortion of female college students under the special background of Romania. At that time, the government promulgated the decree 770 of 1966, which banner abort in Communist Romania (Gradea,2018). As Ioana Uricaru (2008) has pointed out ‘It is without the help of editing (most scenes are shot in one take, and some of them are nearly ten minutes long) and without the support of musical score, effects, dollies, or cranes—nothing that could in any way distract us from the story or make our spectatorship easier. In fact, there is no use of a tripod or a Steadicam either—which gives a subtle trembling even to the long, static scenes, evoking the fluid nature of subjectivity and positing life as a precarious balancing act.’. In the film, a large number of the long take are used to shape the struggle and compromise of the characters' fate.
In the film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, the director used a large number of the long take, and almost every scene was completed by one shot. Each long take is carefully and rigorously conceived and designed to closely combine with the character's emotion. This technique increases the authenticity and sense of the film.
Starting from 0:01:03 of the film, there is a long take with a duration of 2 minutes and 14 seconds, as shown in Figure 1. The first picture is a close-up view of the girls' dormitory taken with a fixedcamera. The visual center of this lens is the two swimming fishes in the fish tank, and the background sound is the sound of the clock's second hand moving. These two fishes seem to represent Otilia and Gabita, they will be restrained like these two fishes, and the movement of the second hand also promotes the occurrence of the plot. According to the ashtray on the left side of the picture, the camera swings to Gabita who smokes because of anxiety. Gabita gets up to pack his desk. The camera has unconsciously retreated to the panorama of the dormitory. At this time, the protagonist Otilia enters the picture to help Garbita pack her bags. The environment and main characters of the story are clearly shown to the audience at the beginning of the film.
At 0:49:10 (Figure 2), Otilia was sexually assaulted by the doctor. Before going to bed, the camera showed Gabita's subjective line of sight, while the later picture showed Gabita smoking outside the room and waiting in the bathroom. When she closed the door of the room, the camera changed to the third perspective, and then the audience followed her in the bathroom for an extremely difficult few minutes. When Otilia went into the bathroom to wash naked, the camera didn't follow her and remained still until Garbita closed the door and went out. Then Otilia's 13 second back close-up pushed the scene to the climax. With her back to the camera, the audience couldn't see her facial expression. Outside the frame, there was the sound of shower dripping water, which was particularly quiet. The audience can feel Otilia's fear and helplessness at this time. The whole emotion appears true and complete, but it can not be released. It has a strong sense of introduction to the audience.
The most bold and wonderful long take in the film is at 1:14:26, which is the scene of Otilia attending her boyfriend's mother's birthday party. It is a fixed shot with a length of 7 minutes and 16 seconds, as shown in Figure 3. During the meal, the heroine worried about her roommate's abortion listened absently to the guests' dialogue and ridicule about the political and social situation. The lens presents a closed composition, with scattered tableware and food in the foreground. The bookcase of her boyfriend's home is used as the background to set off her boyfriend's family environment. Otilia is arranged in the golden focus position. Due to the narrow dining table, her boyfriend's parents were arranged on the left and right sides. Her boyfriend was crowded behind Otilia, and the whole scene was surrounded by guests. The whole scene is from Otilia sitting down to her embarrassed listening to the guests' comments, and then to everyone standing up to celebrate her boyfriend's mother's birthday. The picture composition makes people feel crowded and depressed, just like Otilia's depressed and restrained mood at this time. The picture is rich and hierarchical, and the subtle relationship between characters is also displayed here. The setting of this lens is almost perfect, and the lens is layered, showing the embarrassing relationship between the characters. The long take of the film makes the audience's thinking more active and allows the audience to make subjective visual choices in the picture.
At the end of the film, Otilia and Gabita sat at the table and remained silent for a long time before the director ended the film. The whole film expresses that in the bitter life, people still have love and faith. Mungiu tells the story of pregnant Gabita and her friend Otilia with the long take. The power brought by realistic shot is not only an intuitive visual shock, but also a profound awe brought by revealing the complexity of human nature.
Reference
Gradea, A. C. (2018).A psychoanalytical approach to Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. Journal of European Studies, 48(3-4), 295-307. doi: 10.1177/0047244118801684
Uricaru, I. (2008). 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days: The Corruption of Intimacy. Film Quarterly, 61(4), pp.12-17.
