Director Cristian Mungiu’s “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” (2007), about a young woman’s attempt to procure an illegal abortion for her friend, helped establish Romania as a force in world cinema. His latest film is loosely based on a BBC reporter’s book about a young woman who underwent an exorcism in a remote Orthodox convent, with terrible results; it demonstrates that “4 Months” was no fluke.
Like the earlier movie, “Beyond the Hills” centers on a female friendship, in this case the jittery, beaten-down Alina (Cristina Flutur) and her passionate attachment to Voichita (Cosmina Stratan). Voichita has joined a religious order, led by a priest called Papa (Valeriu Andriuta), whose benevolent airs only make him more sinister. Alina wants Voichita to come away with her, but her friend refuses.
And so Alina stays, her mind gradually breaks down and the convent residents’ attempts to bring Alina around become desperate. The haunting young leads shared a much-deserved acting prize at Cannes; Stratan is unforgettable — a portrait of radiant faith overtaken by doubt.
All this takes place in the dead of a Romanian-mountain winter so harsh the characters’ breath is often visible indoors. Mungiu spends much time re-creating the convent’s rejection of all things modern: It has no heat, no hot water, bad food, long periods spent kneeling in abject prayer.
What this means is that at times the pace of “Beyond the Hills” is nerve-wrackingly slow. But Mungiu has his own way of creating suspense, and he has a gift for making a known outcome as shocking as a twist.