Assisted by passionless central performances and dull dialogue, Mungiu succeeds only in exhausting our patience, not in conveying a message.
Beyond the Hills(După dealuri)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Romania, France, Belgium · 2012
2h 30m
Director Cristian Mungiu
Starring Cosmina Stratan, Cristina Flutur, Valeriu Andriuta, Dana Tapalaga
Genre Drama, Romance
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
A drama centered on the friendship between two young women who grew up in the same orphanage; one has found refuge at a convent in Romania and refuses to leave with her friend, who now lives in Germany.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Mungiu's method creates the feeling of being submerged in a maze of confrontations and chatter, but the build-up gets so tiring that the concluding scenes come as a relief instead of a payoff.
Observing the situation at an icy remove, Beyond the Hills never builds the palpable menace and pressure-cooker anxiety of "4 Months," and its dramatic progression feels obvious, even predictable, by comparison.
As in his much-lauded "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," the latest feature from Palme d’Or–winning filmmaker Cristian Mungiu takes a rigorous approach to the material. But where the previous film — about two women seeking a back-alley abortion — was a reductively dour slog, Beyond the Hills feels more caustically all-encompassing.
The Playlist by Kevin Jagernauth
Deceivingly complex, with an emotional center that peels away like an onion the longer it unfolds, this is a powerful effort from Mungiu in which love and faith are both different kinds of poison.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
Enthralling, mysterious and intimately upsetting – a terrible demonstration of how poverty creates a space which irrational fear must fill.
Village Voice by Scott Foundas
The haunting final image suggests how quickly such stories can be lost...which makes Beyond the Hills, above all else, a powerful and necessary act of reclamation.
Arduous yet always absorbing, Cristian Mungiu’s first full-length feature since 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days is inspired by a real-life case of a tragically botched exorcism in rural Romania.
Users who liked this film also liked
The Man Who Fell to Earth
An alien arrives on earth on a mission to bring water back to his dying planet.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 1976
- Director Nicolas Roeg
- Cast David Bowie, Rip Torn, Candy Clark, Tony Mascia, Buck Henry, Bernie Casey
- Genre Drama, Science Fiction
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Criterion Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Freevee, Hoopla
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
(4 luni, 3 săptămîni și 2 zile)
At what moment do we begin to live?
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Romania, Belgium • 2007
- Director Cristian Mungiu
- Cast Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov, Alexandru Potocean, Luminița Gheorghiu, Adi Cărăuleanu
- Genre Drama
- Available on AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, IFC Films Unlimited Apple TV Channel, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video
Shame
(Skammen)
When their island is invaded, a married couple must adapt to life under war and foreign occupation.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Sweden • 1968
- Director Ingmar Bergman
- Cast Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow, Sigge Fürst, Gunnar Björnstrand, Birgitta Valberg, Hans Alfredson
- Genre Drama, War
- Available on Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube
There Was a Father
(父ありき)
Widower and father Shuhei Horikawa grapples with raising his son amidst financial strife and personal failings of honor.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1942
- Director Yasujirō Ozu
- Cast Chishū Ryū, Shûji Sano, Haruhiko Tsuda, Shin Saburi, Takeshi Sakamoto, Mitsuko Mito
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel, Plex, Plex Channel
The Ax
(Le Couperet)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Belgium, France, Spain • 2005
- Director Costa-Gavras
- Cast José Garcia, Karin Viard, Ulrich Tukur, Yvon Back, Thierry Hancisse, Olivier Gourmet
- Genre Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Endeavour
This prequel to the long-running series "Inspector Morse" follows the titular Endeavour Morse's early days as a detective with the Oxford City Police CID.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2013
- Creator Russell Lewis
- Cast Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, James Bradshaw, Sean Rigby
- Genre Crime, Drama, Mystery
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Amazon Prime Video, PBS, PBS Masterpiece Amazon Channel, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
The Holy Girl
(La niña santa)
A teenager tries to save her suitor from his own lust.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Argentina, Italy, Netherlands • 2004
- Director Lucrecia Martel
- Cast Mercedes Morán, Carlos Belloso, Alejandro Urdapilleta, María Alché, Julieta Zylberberg, Mía Maestro
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
(Tropa de Elite 2)
Accused of murdering prisoners during a riot, a lieutenant and his second in command are swept into a bloody political dispute.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Brazil • 2010
- Director José Padilha
- Cast Wagner Moura, Irandhir Santos, André Ramiro, Pedro Van-Held, Maria Ribeiro, Sandro Rocha
- Genre Action, Crime, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Story of a Love Affair
(Cronaca di un amore)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1950
- Director Michelangelo Antonioni
- Cast Massimo Girotti, Lucía Bosé, Gino Rossi, Marika Rowsky, Ferdinando Sarmi, Rubi D'Alma
- Genre Romance, Drama, Crime, Thriller
- Available on Amazon Video, Kanopy
Aurora
A newly divorced engineer travels across Bucharest in this epic Romanian crime drama.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Romania, France, Switzerland • 2011
- Director Cristi Puiu
- Cast Cristi Puiu, Clara Vodă, Catrinel Dumitrescu, Luminița Gheorghiu, Valentin Popescu, Gheorghe Ifrim
- Genre Drama
- Available on Klassiki, Kanopy
The Imposter
There are two sides to every lie.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2012
- Director Bart Layton
- Cast Frédéric Bourdin, Adam O'Brian, Anna Ruben, Cathy Dresbach, Alan Teichman, Ivan Villanueva
- Genre Documentary, Mystery
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Fandor Amazon Channel, Peacock Premium, Peacock Premium Plus, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Shout! Factory TV, Freevee, Kanopy, Plex, Plex Channel
Sightseers
Death has a ginger beard.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2012
- Director Ben Wheatley
- Cast Alice Lowe, Steve Oram, Eileen Davies, Roger Michael, Tony Way, Seamus O'Neill
- Genre Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Horror
- Available on AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, IFC Films Unlimited Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, The Roku Channel, Kanopy
Somewhere in Palilula
(Undeva la Palilula)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Romania • 2012
- Director Silviu Purcărete
- Cast Áron Dimény, George Mihăiță, Răzvan Vasilescu, Constantin Chiriac, Sorin Leoveanu, Horațiu Mălăele
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Wild Tales
(Relatos salvajes)
We can all lose control...
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Argentina, Spain • 2014
- Director Damián Szifrón
- Cast Ricardo Darín, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Darío Grandinetti, Érica Rivas, Nancy Dupláa
- Genre Comedy, Drama, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Mountains May Depart
(山河故人)
The life of Tao, and those close to her, is explored over the course of two decades.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- China, France, Japan • 2015
- Director Jia Zhangke
- Cast Zhao Tao, Sylvia Chang, Dong Zijian, Zhang Yi, Liang Jingdong
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Kino Film Collection, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kanopy