Young nun Cristina sneaks out of her isolated monastery to attend to an urgent matter. Her enigmatic journey takes her all around town, but she is seemingly unable to solve her problem and find the man she is looking for. Out of options, she returns in the evening only to meet an unexpected fate on her way back to the convent. Here, the story gets picked up by Marius Preda, a determined police detective trying to understand what happened to Cristina. Marius retraces Cristina's journey, step by step, through all the places she visited. In a perfectly mirrored structure, his investigation uncovers clues and revelations leading not only to the unfathomable truth behind Cristina’s mysterious actions, but possibly, to an actual miracle as well. Preda's investigation turns into a certain social commentary, creating a conflict between the detective’s straightforward view on reality and the ineffective mix of fatalism, faith and superstition that seems to have permeated the Romanian provinces. Through the consant uncertainty Director Bogdan George Apetri manages to create a feeling of urgency, of continuous tension, which will only increase throughout the movie before ending with a bang. He succeeds in making the audience aware of the passing of time and of how everything happens against the clock. MIRACLE proves to be an impressively balanced piece of work. With impressive cinematography at every stage, the film hinges on two magnificent slow, circular sequences, one in the middle and one at the end, each of which resets the narrative. They’re directed with incredible precision, almost flawless, whilst packing in a wealth of incident and meaning.
The crime against a young nun reveals the fatalism, faith and superstition that paralyzes the Romanian province.
Young nun Cristina sneaks out of her isolated monastery to attend to an urgent matter. Her enigmatic journey takes her all around town, but she is seemingly unable to solve her problem and find the man she is looking for. Out of options, she returns in the evening only to meet an unexpected fate on her way back to the convent.
Here, the story gets picked up by Marius Preda, a determined police detective trying to understand what happened to Cristina. Marius retraces Cristina's journey, step by step, through all the places she visited. In a perfectly mirrored structure, his investigation uncovers clues and revelations leading not only to the unfathomable truth behind Cristina’s mysterious actions, but possibly, to an actual miracle as well.
Preda's investigation turns into a certain social commentary, creating a conflict between the detective’s straightforward view on reality and the ineffective mix of fatalism, faith and superstition that seems to have permeated the Romanian provinces.
Through the consant uncertainty Director Bogdan George Apetri manages to create a feeling of urgency, of continuous tension, which will only increase throughout the movie before ending with a bang. He succeeds in making the audience aware of the passing of time and of how everything happens against the clock.
MIRACLE proves to be an impressively balanced piece of work. With impressive cinematography at every stage, the film hinges on two magnificent slow, circular sequences, one in the middle and one at the end, each of which resets the narrative. They’re directed with incredible precision, almost flawless, whilst packing in a wealth of incident and meaning.