Introduction
4 Months , 3 Weeks and 2 Days is a movie depicting Otilia accompanies her friend Gabita to have a secret abortion within a social context of post-communist Romania. The director Cristian Mungiu describes the impact of the then-Romania leader Nicolae Ceausescu's promulgation of the prohibition of abortion on women, reflecting the social problems of gender inequality at that time. “During the last twenty years of post-communist transition, the attitudes towards feminism and the issue of gender equality have been ignored (Hurubean, 2013, p.82).” This social phenomenon is presented in various aspects of this movie.
The patriarchal society of post-communist Romania
According to Bell and Golombisky (2004, pp.296-298),in a patriarchal society, women are often deprived of the right to speak and be heard; they are oppressed by men and often cannot make decisions by themselves.“In the post-communist Romanian society, many policies and programs developed in the name of gender equality actually perpetuate the gender inequalities specific to the masculine-patriarchal culture (Palmer-Mehta & Haliliuc, 2011, p.112).” Mungiu uses a long take of Otilia in the dining room to demonstrate this social context. When Otilia is having dinner at her boyfriend Adi's home, she is trapped in a group of conservative and stubborn people; they use morality as an excuse to judge the role of women in society. These intellectuals around the table believe that the female college students should be totally dependent on their parents and under the control of the government; when choosing a lifetime career, they also should base on whether the major can minimize the possibility of being sent to the countryside.
Additionally, the director also demonstrates cogently how the men in the film deepen the oppression of women. For Otilia's boyfriend Adi, he just sits behind her and keeps silent when his girlfriend is reprimanded in the dining room. In the conversation after they return to Adi's room, Adi shows a reckless disregard for their sex without contraception; he insists that Otilia will not get pregnant, and has no solution if she does. The director uses this short dialogue to reflect the men’s cruelty in their private lives with women; they only used women as a tool for venting their sexual desires without considering the consequences. For another male in the film, the doctor Bebe, he is very concerned about the patient who seems to suffer from Alzheimer's but mercilessly treats these two girls in predicaments (Uricaru,2008, p.16). He knows that Gabita is bound by the policy of prohibiting abortion, and Otilia is also controlled by friendship, so he makes full use of their bodies (Palmer-Mehta & Haliliuc, 2011, p.126). The judgment, control,and oppression of men against women in the movie are the epitome of post-communist Romania's patriarchal society.
The burden on women
Although Ceausescu formulated policies to empower women as workers, women's burden in the family and society was still heavy, because gender still decidedly determined the power structure and the division of labour in families (Verdery, 1994, p.233). Ceausescu’s nationalist logic imposed the responsibility of increasing national productivity on women’s wombs; meanwhile, post-socialist Romania required women to maintain paid jobs while performing reproductive duties (Palmer-Mehta & Haliliuc, 2011, p.114).In the film, people’s conversation in the dining room and Otilia’s private conversations with Adi show that women were used as labourers for both reproduction and production. The men in the movie always pressure Otilia; they demand her to have a stable job and fulfil the obligation of reproducing the next generation. Mungiu potently shows the multiple burdens that women bear from society and family, which also demonstrate the serious gender inequality at that time.
Secondly, Ceausescu’s restrictions on abortion and contraception make sex a burden and a source of anxiety for women. “In that society, women’s bodies must be checked, registered, and surveilled; they were mandatorily demanded to have regular gynecological examinations (Uricaru, 2008,p.17).” On the one hand, women needed to satisfy the sexual desires of themselves or men; on the other hand, they could not take contraceptive measures; this significantly increased the chance of women becoming pregnant. Usually, they had to choose to give birth to a child after pregnancy, whether they want to or not. In the movie, Otilia has sex with both Bebe and Adi. However, neither of them shows a resolute and clear attitude of being willing to take responsibility for Otilia's pregnancy. When asked about solutions to Otilia’s pregnancy, Adi's hesitation makes her feel anxious, which is reflected in her quarrel with Adi. The men did not care if women get pregnant had greatly increased the women’s anxiety in their sexual life.
Furthermore, after pregnancy, the high reproductive mortality rate and the scarce living resources also put tremendous pressure on women. After the promulgation of the post-communist Romania’s ban on abortion,the country’s birth rate has increased significantly. However, with the birth of a large number of babies, the medical resources of maternity hospitals such as medical equipment, nurses, obstetricians and gynaecologists are severely lacking; this makes the health condition of pregnant women and infants unable to guarantee, which increased their mortality rate (Su, 2009, p.43). Not only that, “under Ceausescu's regime, the economic crisis of the 1980s intensified the already tight competition for scarce resources and dependency on informal networks for providing daily necessities (Palmer-Mehta & Haliliuc, 2011, p.114).” In the movie, the fact that Gabita cannot afford the cost of abortion and Otilia cannot buy the cigarettes she wanted reflects the social condition that the people at that time were under considerable strain due to lack of living resources, especially women. In this case, women bear children means that they have to spend extra time, energy, and money to raise children under their poor living conditions.
Overall
Post-communist Romanian women's enormous social and family burdens mirrored the extreme gender inequality in the masculine-patriarchal society. The oppression of women came from Ceausescu’s ordinances, as well as from the men who support the government. Even if the original intention of prohibiting abortion is to respect life and improve the country’s productivity, the final result is to bring more harm to innocent women. A woman’s abortion could be regarded as criminal and illegal, but the man who get her pregnant could shirk responsibility. Men enacted the decrees,but women had to suffer both physical and mental pain. Through the narrative from the perspective of women, the movie 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days reflects the criticism of the relationship between women and men, and women and society.
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Reference
Bell, E., & Golombisky, K. (2004). Voices and Silences in Our Classrooms.Women’s Studies in Communication, 27, 296-298.
Hurubean, A. (2013). Post-communist Romanian Feminism and Gender Equality. Between stereotypes, conceptual ambiguities and thinking outside the box.Journal of gender and feminist studies, 1(15), 79-94.
Mungiu, C. (2007).4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. Romania:Mobra Films, Centrul Naţional al Cinematografiei.
Palmer-Mehta, V., & Haliliuc, A. (2011). The Performance of Silence in Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days.Text and Performance Quarterly, 31(2), 111-129. doi: 10.1080/10462937.2010.531282
Su, S. (2009). Siyue sanzhou liangtian: Xianshi zhuyi huoli de zhanfang [4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days: a burst of realism]. Literature of The Times, (07), 42-43.
Uricaru, I. (2008). 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days: The Corruption of Intimacy. Film Quarterly, 61(4), 12-17. doi:10.1525/fq.2008.61.4.12
Verdery, K. (1994). From Parent-State to Family Patriarchs. East European Politics and Societies, 8(2), 225-255.
