Graduation (2016)

Crime, Drama

Director: Cristian Mungiu
Writer: Cristian Mungiu
Starring: Adrian Titieni, Maria Dragus, Lia Bugnar, Mãlina Manovici

"A father will do anything to save his daughter's future."

Acclaimed filmmaker Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days) returns with this searing human saga about a father driven to extremes in order to protect his daughter's future.

Romeo Aldea is a seemingly honest doctor who regrets having settled in his native Romania, a country still teeming with corruption and back dealings. He channels his ambitions for a better life into his teenage daughter, Eliza, who's just one exam away from securing a scholarship to a prestigious British university. But when Eliza is attacked on the eve of her test, endangering her ability to pass, Romeo takes matters into his own hands to ensure her success. Winner of the Best Director prize at Cannes, Bacalaureat is a masterful look at the complex moral choices and compromises some people make when desperation takes hold.

Plot summary from IMDb: Romeo Aldea (49), a physician living in a small mountain town in Transylvania, has raised his daughter Eliza with the idea that once she turns 18, she will leave to study and live abroad. His plan is close to succeeding - Eliza has won a scholarship to study psychology in the UK. She just has to pass her final exams - a formality for such a good student. On the day before her first written exam, Eliza is assaulted in an attack that could jeopardize her entire future. Now Romeo has to make a decision. There are ways of solving the situation, but none of them using the principles he, as a father, has taught his daughter.

Awards: 10 wins & 24 nominations.
Runtime: 128 min
R