The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Moartea domnului Lazarescu) (2005)
Average Rating: 8/10
Reviews Counted: 74
Fresh: 69 | Rotten: 5
Shot in naturalistic style, this is a powerful indictment of absurdity and indifference in the face of human suffering.
Average Rating: 8.1/10
Critic Reviews: 24
Fresh: 21 | Rotten: 3
Shot in naturalistic style, this is a powerful indictment of absurdity and indifference in the face of human suffering.
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Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 4,529
My Rating
Movie Info
Mr. Lazarescu (Ion Fiscuteanu) is not feeling well. He has a bad headache and has been vomiting. He feels that it is something more serious than the pain caused by his ulcer and the hangovers caused by his regular excessive drinking. He calls for an ambulance, and after convincing the skeptical dispatcher that he is not simply drunk, he begins the long wait for help to arrive. Eventually, he visits his neighbors, Sandu (Doru Ana) and Miki (Dana Dogaru), in search of stronger pain relievers. They
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Cast
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Ion Fiscuteanu
Dante Lazarescu -
Luminita Gheorghiu
Mioara -
Doru Ana
Sandu Sterian -
Dana Dogaru
Mihaela Sterian -
Serban Pavlu
Gelu -
Gabriel Spahiu
Leo -
Florin Zamfirescu
Doctor Ardelean -
Bogdan Dumitrache
Medic at Spitalul Sf Sp... -
Dragos Bucur
Misu -
Dan Chiriac
Trial Medic at Spitalul... -
Clara Voda
Doctor Gina Filip -
Adrian Titieni
Doctor Dragos Popescu -
Mihai Bratila
Doctor Breslasu -
Monica Barladeanu
Mariana -
Mimi Branescu
Doctor Mirica -
Alina Berzunteanu
Doctor Zamfir -
Simona Popescu
Assistant at Spitalul B... -
Mirela Cioaba
Marioara -
Dorian Boguta
Ambulance Driver -
Robert Bumbes
Robert -
Laura Cret
Echograph Medic at Spit... -
Alexandru Fifeu
Virgil Stretcher Carrie... -
Florina Alina Gleznea
Assistant at Spitalul S... -
Tidor Hristescu
Doctor Kelemen -
Rodica Ionescu
Assistant at Spitalul U... -
Cerasela Iosifescu
Assistant at Assistant ... -
Irina Kozsar
Assistant at Spitalul U... -
Rodica Lazar
Assistant at Spitalul F... -
Alexandru Cristian Potoce...
Stretcher Carrier at Sp... -
Calin Adrian Puiu
Stretcher Carrier at Sp... -
Anca Puiu
Vecina -
Emil Puiu
DL Sandu -
Iuliana Puiu
Dna Sandu -
Smaranda Puiu
Smarandu -
Jean Lorin Sterian
Medic at Spitalul Unive... -
Marian Stoica
Patient of Spitalul Sf ... -
Maria Serb
Assistant at Spitalul B... -
Andrei Serban
Stretcher Carrier at Sp... -
Cristian Turungiu Ionel Z...
Stretcher Carrier Spita... -
Lorena-Andrada Zabrautanu
Assistant at Spitalul U... -
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All Critics (79) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (71) | Rotten (6) | DVD (9)
Both sad and darkly funny, the film is so sharply conceived and richly populated that it often registers like a Frederick Wiseman documentary, even though everything is scripted and every part played by a professional.
Top CriticThere's something about Fiscuteanu's quietly desperate performance (with much of the emotion conveyed through his eyes), that gets under your skin.
As commentary, it's grim. As filmmaking, it's a powerfully disturbing odyssey through the Bucharest health care system.
A tour de force of cinema verite with astonishing performances by a huge cast of small players.
The movie is a stunner, so hypnotic that the length hardly matters.
The film's real success is that Puiu impresses both with his compassion for human behaviour and his tight grip on realist, documentary-style filmmaking.
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu seems effortlessly observed, even improvised, but it's actually a wonder of choreography, rhythm and social commentary.
blending social commentary with spiritual allegory, it traces one man's nocturnal descent into the Circle of Hell that is Romania's healthcare service
The gradual accumulation of detail, the quotidian elements of the long night, eventually add up to a powerful and engrossing whole.
An indictment of an indifferent health care system.
The film feels very real and not a little scary since the viewer knows that he is very likely to eventually likely to share Lazarescu's fate.
Absurdamente angustiante em seu realismo sem concessões, este é mais do que um filme-denúncia (apropriado para vários países, aliás); é, acima de tudo, um olhar agridoce sobre o melhor e o pior em todos nós.
This deathly film is crafted with such ease that it comes appallingly alive. A slowly suffocating, masterly work of social realism that shrouds you in a melancholy look at mortality.
While Lazarescu is descending on his nighttime journey toward zero, the film builds up an entire social world around him--one that is harrowing, funny, infuriating, outrageous and sometimes profoundly moving.
A harsh critique of the modern medical system, and though it takes place specifically in Romania, its events could be easily transferred elsewhere.
Mr. Lazarescu's ordeal will stick with you.
One of the the most remarkable medical dramas ever attempted.
Puiu's seemingly artless, documentary-style mise en scène, with the characters followed by a shoulder-mounted camera, conceals countless subtleties, foreshadowings and running themes.
Audience Reviews for The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Moartea domnului Lazarescu)
Super Reviewer
[font=Century Gothic][/font]
[font=Century Gothic]"The Death of Mr. Lazarescu" is a downbeat and detailed epic of one ordinary man's descent into the medical world of Bucharest.(But before that can start, he is judged by his neighbors and found guilty of the sins of drunkenness, living in an unclean apartment and favoring the company of cats over humans.) The movie is not about the state of medical care in Romania("The Barbarian Invasions" makes a much better criticism of its own country's hospitals.) but that sometimes ordinary mortals and their concerns pale in comparison to much larger events.(Lazarescu just had the bad luck to fall ill the same night as a calamitous bus crash.)[/font]
Super Reviewer
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October 5, 2006:
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Foreign Titles
- Der Tod des Herrn Lazarescu (DE)
- The Death of Mr Lazarescu (Moartea domnului Lazarescu) (UK)
