Lucian Pintilie

Director, Screenwriter, Producer

Romania

Details

>Birth :9 November 1933 (Tarutino, Bessarabia - now Ukraine)
>Death :16 May 2018
>Age :84 years
>Career :48 years

Lucian Pintilie was born in 1933 in Bessarabia, then a province of Greater Romania. He studied at the Institute of Cinematographic and Theatre Arts in Bucharest and spent his entire life working between stage and screen.

Between 1956 and 1965, he filmed reports for television and simultaneously produced classical and contemporary plays. He tried his hand at cinema in 1965 with “Sunday at Six“, in which he revisited his country’s fascist past. He continued his satirical style against the communist dictatorship with “Reconstruction” in 1968 and Carnival Scenes in 1981, both of which were censored.

He then went into exile in France and performed in the greatest Parisian theaters. Pintilie gave free rein to his devastating humor upon his return to Romania after Ceausescu’s death, with “The Oak“. His subsequent films continually engage in what he calls a “dialogue with Evil.”

His film “Niki and Flo” was presented during the Directors’ Fortnight at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.

Filmography (12) +

🎨 Feature films (11)

1965 – Dimanche à six heures (Duminica la ora 6)
Role : Director
Synopsis : Two people who love each other passionately decide to fight the fascist regime in Romania in 1940.

Synopsis : Two people who love each other passionately decide to fight the fascist regime in Romania in 1940.
1968 – La Reconstitution (Reconstituirea)
Role : Director / Screenwriter
Synopsis : After causing serious damage following a fight, two high school students are punished by having to reenact their action in front of a camera in order to make an educational film.

Synopsis : After causing serious damage following a fight, two high school students are punished by having to reenact their action in front of a camera in order to make an educational film.
1978 – Pavillon VI (Paviljon VI)
Role : Director
Synopsis : In a psychiatric hospital in Tsarist Russia, a doctor encounters a former student who has been interned for his political views. The doctor listens to his patient's demands and develops a new outlook on reality. Based on the short story "Ward No. 6" by Anton Chekhov, published in 1892.

Synopsis : In a psychiatric hospital in Tsarist Russia, a doctor encounters a former student who has been interned for his political views. The doctor listens to his patient's demands and develops a new outlook on reality. Based on the short story "Ward No. 6" by Anton Chekhov, published in 1892.
1982 – Scènes de carnaval (De ce trag clopotele, Mitică?)
Role : Director / Screenwriter
Synopsis : In the midst of a carnival held by a small bourgeois society, flirtations and romantic adventures multiply until a lost love note causes scandal.

Synopsis : In the midst of a carnival held by a small bourgeois society, flirtations and romantic adventures multiply until a lost love note causes scandal.
1991 – Le Chêne (Balanța)
Role : Director / Screenwriter / Producer
Synopsis : Having just lost her father, Nela decides to leave Bucharest, preferring to teach in a small provincial town.

Synopsis : Having just lost her father, Nela decides to leave Bucharest, preferring to teach in a small provincial town.
1993 – Un été inoubliable (O vară de neuitat)
Role : Director / Screenwriter / Producer
Synopsis : In 1920s Romania, the beautiful wife of a Romanian army captain spurns the advances of a general. Captain Dumitriu is transferred with his family to a remote garrison on the other side of the Danube. To avenge Romanian border guards massacred by Macedonian smugglers, he is ordered to shoot Bulgarian villagers. An intense bond develops between the prisoners and his wife.

Synopsis : In 1920s Romania, the beautiful wife of a Romanian army captain spurns the advances of a general. Captain Dumitriu is transferred with his family to a remote garrison on the other side of the Danube. To avenge Romanian border guards massacred by Macedonian smugglers, he is ordered to shoot Bulgarian villagers. An intense bond develops between the prisoners and his wife.
1995 – Lumière et compagnie (Not Rated)
Role : Director
Synopsis : 40 directors shot 52 seconds of their choice without sound and in three takes maximum with the original camera of the Lumière brothers.

Synopsis : 40 directors shot 52 seconds of their choice without sound and in three takes maximum with the original camera of the Lumière brothers.
1996 – Trop tard (Prea târziu)
Role : Director
Synopsis : Trainee prosecutor Dumitru Costa is assigned his first investigation into the suspicious death of a miner in the Jiu Valley, Romania. He falls in love with Alina, a young topographical engineer, who helps him with his research.

Synopsis : Trainee prosecutor Dumitru Costa is assigned his first investigation into the suspicious death of a miner in the Jiu Valley, Romania. He falls in love with Alina, a young topographical engineer, who helps him with his research.
1998 – (Terminus Paradis)
Role : Director
Synopsis : One summer day on the outskirts of Bucharest, Norica, a young waitress, and Mitou meet, provoke each other, and compete to see who can drink the most. The next day, Mitou doesn't remember anything. What happened between them? In any case, he's in love, but Norica is due to marry Gili, her lover and boss, and Mitou is due to join the army. His passion for Norica will push him to extreme acts, especially those inconceivable in the society in which they live. Special Grand Jury Prize, Venice 1998.

Synopsis : One summer day on the outskirts of Bucharest, Norica, a young waitress, and Mitou meet, provoke each other, and compete to see who can drink the most. The next day, Mitou doesn't remember anything. What happened between them? In any case, he's in love, but Norica is due to marry Gili, her lover and boss, and Mitou is due to join the army. His passion for Norica will push him to extreme acts, especially those inconceivable in the society in which they live. Special Grand Jury Prize, Venice 1998.
2001 – L'après-midi d'un tortionnaire (Dupa-amiaza unui tortionar)
Role : Director
Synopsis : In Romania, Frant Tandara, a former torturer in communist prisons, is willing to confess his crimes to a journalist and a former political prisoner. He tells them about himself: a child soldier, then at the end of the war a homeless vagabond spending his nights in train stations...

Synopsis : In Romania, Frant Tandara, a former torturer in communist prisons, is willing to confess his crimes to a journalist and a former political prisoner. He tells them about himself: a child soldier, then at the end of the war a homeless vagabond spending his nights in train stations...
2003 – Niki et Flo (Niki Ardelean, colonel în rezerva)
Role : Director
Synopsis : Niki is a retired colonel whose son is taken from him in a fatal accident. His daughter, Angela, and his son-in-law, Flo's son, are preparing to leave Romania for good for the United States. Flo, a relic of 70s bohemia, is a jack-of-all-trades, a home video enthusiast whose repressed tyrant nature takes its toll on Niki. He strips him of his meager material possessions, his moral values, and "his sense of dignity".

Synopsis : Niki is a retired colonel whose son is taken from him in a fatal accident. His daughter, Angela, and his son-in-law, Flo's son, are preparing to leave Romania for good for the United States. Flo, a relic of 70s bohemia, is a jack-of-all-trades, a home video enthusiast whose repressed tyrant nature takes its toll on Niki. He strips him of his meager material possessions, his moral values, and "his sense of dignity".

Moyens métrages (1)

2006 – La tête d'aurochs (Tertium non datur)
Role : Director
Synopsis : Project presented at the Brive festival short-list.

Synopsis : Project presented at the Brive festival short-list.

Presse (1) +

"Despite all this apparent disorder... it makes for a heartbreaking drama and presents a rather pessimistic picture of life in the socialist paradise..."
Michel Duran, Le Canard enchaîné