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<\/p>\nAn unrecognizable Marvel star leads what will surely become one of the year\u2019s most divisive films.<\/p>\n
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Weeks before the release of the Palme d\u2019Or-winning Fjord<\/a> (in select theaters on Friday, Oct. 9), the movie\u2019s lead actor, Sebastian Stan, was already on defense about the film\u2019s supposedly right-leaning politics. In response to chatter out of this year\u2019s Cannes Film Festival that Fjord was essentially a \u201cMAGA movie,\u201d Stan said critics were prejudging the film based on its premise. <\/p>\n \u201cA lot of those reactions come from people who haven\u2019t seen the movie,\u201d Stan told Variety<\/a> in September. \u201cIt highlights why we need more films like this\u2014to remind us there was a time when people could meet, disagree, and at least hear each other out.\u201d<\/p>\n Sebastian Stan.<\/p>\n It\u2019s true that Fjord, from Romanian New Wave filmmaker Cristian Mungiu, sounds more like an Angel Studios drama<\/a> than a potential Oscars frontrunner, alongside a gay war epic<\/a> and a comedy about swinging<\/a>.<\/p>\n [WARNING: Spoilers ahead]<\/p>\n Inspired by the story of Ruth and Marius Bodnariu,<\/a> Fjord follows evangelical couple Mihai (Stan) and Lisbet Gheorghiu (Renate Reinsve), who are suspected of child abuse upon moving to a small town in Lisbet\u2019s native Norway. The country\u2019s Child Protective Services seize all five of the Gheorghius\u2019 children, including their infant who still needs breast milk. The film follows the blistering legal battle that crosses the line between child protection and religious persecution. <\/p>\n Sign up for the obsessed newsletter<\/p>\n Get the best of Obsessed delivered right to your inbox<\/p>\n While labeling Fjord a \u201cMAGA movie\u201d is a bit of a lazy generalization\u2014after all, it does take place in Norway\u2014it\u2019s easy to see how the film could excite conservative pundits like Ben Shapiro and Megyn Kelly, while getting under the skin of some liberals. For most moviegoers, though, Mungiu\u2019s thinkpiece will likely have a less rousing effect than intended. <\/p>\n The truth about Fjord is this: It\u2019s so rudimentary and, at times, silly that it was hard to muster any real outrage. The film is essentially two-plus hours of Mungiu asking the viewer, \u201cWhat if discrimination happened to conservatives?\u201d and insisting that all religions matter. <\/p>\n The family at the center of the film makes for an odd bunch in Norway\u2019s largely irreligious society. The children don\u2019t have cellphones and do nightly Bible study. They recite scriptures while doing chores and speak casually about the consequences of sinning. Their lifestyle is sharply contrasted with that of the school headmaster, Mats (Markus T\u00f8nseth), and his rebellious daughter, Noora (Henrikke Lund-Olsen), who takes an immediate interest in the Gheorghius\u2019 eldest daughter, Elia (Vanessa Ceban). Mats, on the other hand, is suspicious of the Gheorghius and evangelicals in general, raising an eyebrow at all their religious customs and anyone playing \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d on a piano. <\/p>\n One day, Elia arrives at school with bruises on the back of her neck after getting in trouble at home. Faculty overhear her brother Emmanuel (Jonathan Ciprian Breazu) discussing the source of her bruises and immediately question the siblings. After both children confess that their parents inflict physical punishments, the police and CPS agents notify Mihai and Lisbet that they are under a criminal probe and take custody of their entire brood in the meantime. <\/p>\n Sebastian Stan, Jonathan Ciprian Breazu, Teodora Sabina Barau, Vanessa Ceban, and Renate Reinsve.<\/p>\n From there, Fjord launches into a sluggish procedural drama that feels over from the moment it begins. Mungiu constructs an inert, straightforward trial, posing questions about what actually happened to Elia\u2014and whether the audience should really give a damn\u2014just to have them promptly answered or previously settled in an earlier scene. <\/p>\n It\u2019s abundantly clear the ways in which the cards are stacked against Mihai and Lisbet, as they endure the dumbest cross-examinations by Christian-hating prosecutors. There\u2019s also the issue of Norway\u2019s Child Protective Services, which is portrayed as a nefarious, shadowy entity run by greedy social workers. Their interactions with the Gheorghiu family are robotic and cold, as if they couldn\u2019t possibly be acting in good faith and actually care about the safety of their kids. <\/p>\n Other oppositional characters are cartoonishly daft, from an out-of-her-wits attorney to the children\u2019s temporary caretaker, who\u2019s appalled by the Gheorghiu household\u2019s banning of YouTube. Meanwhile, Mats is lurking in the background of the Gheorghius\u2019 legal scandal with a permanent scowl. <\/p>\n The viewer anticipates Elia\u2019s much-needed perspective on her parents\u2019 mistreatment throughout the trial, but the film seems more concerned with Mihai and Lisbet\u2019s truth than hers. When we see Elia and Emmanuel during the investigation, they\u2019re oddly unemotional about their sudden rehoming, and they don\u2019t seem interested in helping their parents. (It\u2019s unclear whether their home life is so terrible that they\u2019re unfazed by something so traumatic, particularly in a brand-new country, or whether Mungiu thinks children don\u2019t have the emotional depth or intellect to process such matters.) <\/p>\n The treatment of adolescents in Fjord is especially wanting compared with awards season\u2019s better but less buzzy court drama, Josephine<\/a>. Beth de Ara\u00fajo<\/a>\u2019s fiery feature takes the inner life of its titular minor (Mason Reeves) seriously, as her innocence is violated by her sudden knowledge of rape. Meanwhile, Fjord essentially silences its children regarding their own experiences, granting more authority to the unreliable adults in the room. <\/p>\n Erik Hivju and Renate Reinsve.<\/p>\n Likewise, Mungiu avoids any real exploration of corporal punishment, its psychological effects on children,<\/a> and the ways it\u2019s often rationalized through religious and cultural norms, like when the film invokes Mihai\u2019s Romanian background. Instead, the film maintains throughout that Mihai only \u201cslapped\u201d his children \u201con the butt.\u201d If you think he deserves a prison sentence for that, which is the only route of justice presented to the viewer, you\u2019re just as bad as the insincere progressives destroying families in Norway. <\/p>\n It\u2019s not a defect of a film to see its cogs working, but only when they produce something that\u2019s actually worthwhile. Aside from stunning vistas and solid yet oddly subdued performances from Stan and Reinsve (these characters are shockingly chill about their children being passed off to strangers), the film has little to offer between all the gesturing and signposting it does to get the audience on the side of its unlikely martyrs\u2014least of all showing any interest in the psychology of its characters.<\/p>\n Mungiu might think his call for neutrality comes across as urgent or that the centering of white Christians in a family-separation story is subversive. But for those who\u2019ve been experiencing the effects of Trump\u2019s regime for a decade now, the director\u2019s reverse-discrimination exercise falls flat. <\/p>\n What could\u2019ve been a rich exploration of family, religion, and assimilation is unfortunately a snoozy lecture that much of its audience doesn\u2019t need to hear. Whether the MAGA faithful end up making the movie their Oscar-season crusade is still an open question.<\/p>\n Obsessed with pop culture and entertainment? Follow us on Substack<\/a> and YouTube<\/a> for even more coverage.<\/p>\n Unlock a year of full access to The Daily Beast for $35.<\/p>\n What’s IncludedUnlimited access (web + app)Exclusive ad-free newslettersCommenting accessDaily crosswordSneak peek of launches & events<\/p>\n Auto-renews at $5.99 monthly. 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