Beyond the Hills (2012)

The critic praises Mungiu's measured and powerful monastery drama as a complex work championing love while questioning religion's appropriation of it. The film's restraint and final shot are singled out for their eloquence and skill.

The critic calls the film a tough and engrossing work of realism with the shadowy magic of an ancient folk tale. He singles out the intense longing of the two central women for a situation in which their love might thrive as giving the story its suspense and devastating power.

Philip French praises Mungiu's film as a powerful and sombre meditation on faith and friendship in present-day Romania. He singles out the morally adroit portrayal of the difficult protagonist Alina as particularly compelling.

The film has power and intensity, is beautifully acted and directed with precision, and is engrossing despite its length and slow pace. It presents a true story of tragedy in a convent without preaching, focusing on trapped emotions and circumstances.

The film unfolds its moral dilemmas with disquieting evenhandedness in an understated passion play. It is praised for its searing love story and even-handed portrayal of conflicts between sacred and secular values.

Mungiu's cerebral melodrama is steely and brutal in its portrait of religion's lethal potential in the wrong hands. The film's elongated style and exploration of freedom and Romanian society's lingering sorrow are highlighted.

The critic finds the film perplexing and not easy to like, with its deliberate pace and demanding material, yet praises how it renders the story fascinating and engaging through moral uncertainty. The rigorous, ascetically masterful execution in long takes is singled out amid its exploration of faith, love, and organized religion.

The critic describes the film as a brilliant slow burn to hell that maintains Mungiu's naturalistic style. It highlights the tension built through the monastic setting and the performances of the leads.

Mungiu's spare, unadorned and strikingly shot film renders a Romanian exorcism case in an unusual way that will split opinions. It is praised for its attention to details and balanced treatment of characters who all believe they are right.

The critic finds the film an austere, serious-minded psychodrama that lacks the bite of Mungiu's previous work but confirms his maturing talent with universal stories. It singles out the director's non-judgmental distance and the lead performance of Cosmina Stratan for praise while noting the slow, repetitive midsection as a drawback.

The critic praises Mungiu’s patient mastery of the long take and his ability to draw viewers into the passionate souls of the characters. He singles out the film’s refusal to deliver an easy broadside against religious fervor, instead registering a tug of war between old piety and the new rational world.

The review calls it a powerful, slow-burn drama exploring faith and love as poisons, praising the complex emotional center and long takes, though noting it may lose some viewers due to pace and ambiguity.

The critic describes it as an important exploration into indifference and the nature of faith and relationships, praising the performances and Mungiu's style of long shots that reveal social truths without exploitation.

The critic praises the film's examination of the bond between two women and the repercussions of faith, highlighting the long takes and performances, but notes some arduous filler in the middle act.

The critic describes the film as methodical and meditative in its long-take approach to a sensational true story, but notes that the deliberate pacing can feel repetitive and tedious. It ends on an infuriatingly ambiguous note after building sympathy for all involved.