Laura Vasiliu

Găbiță needs help, and Laura Vasiliu does not make her easy company. In 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007), the friendship with Anamaria Marinca’s character stays awkward under pressure. Vasiliu conveys quiet distress without making a bid to be the person we like most. That is a considerable strength in a film where sympathy could so easily settle the question of whom we should care about. We think this is an excellent performance, precisely because the awkwardness never cancels out the need for help.

Cristian Mungiu’s screenplay gives their exchanges the strain of people needing things from one another. Vasiliu and Marinca preserve that strain rather than smoothing the dialogue into a tidier account of friendship. We felt exhausted by the film because Mungiu keeps us with the women’s distress for so long. At points his direction presses harder than these performances seem to need, and we would welcome a little breathing space. Yet the actors keep us concerned with what must be done next, which is why our reservation does not undo the recommendation.

That role brought Vasiliu international notice in 2007, but her subsequent film appearances have been occasional. Theatre has remained a steady part of her work, primarily at Teatrul Nottara in Bucharest. Her later screen parts include Stefania in the Italian film Fiore (2016) and Maria Dragoi, the mother, in the Romanian film Three Kilometres to the End of the World (2024). For us, the work with Mungiu remains the clearest reason to seek her out.

We would like to see more film roles give her that much to do. A part that asks only for quiet distress would miss the awkwardness that makes Găbiță worth watching. The friendship needs an actor willing to leave some exchanges uncomfortable, and Vasiliu does not hurry to make them agreeable. Start with Mungiu’s film, but do not choose it for a restful evening.