Romanian Golden Bear winner: a story of morality, lies and a sextape

A movie that begins with a porn streak and ends with a parents' cartoon night that came to life was and is the big winner at this year's Berlinale.

As early as March, when films from the Berlinale competition could only be seen online, the awards were announced and director Radu Jude received the Golden Bear for Best Picture for "Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn ”. The time has finally come for him to personally receive this bear and, above all, for his film to celebrate its world premiere on the big screen on the Museum Island of the Berlinale Open. Almost unreal virtual success is now becoming real.

“I'm still a little in shock,” Radu Jude said in a Zoom interview in his small Bucharest office a few days before his film's premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, which finally took place in front of an audience. “I never thought I would one day get such a prestigious award. "

Radu Jude points out that he admires the performance of festival co-director Carlo Chatrian and his team, because they have done everything to get this festival back on its feet. “I also have a lot of respect for the jury, but I have to admit I've been trying all the time since March not to think about it and pretend it didn't happen at all. "

But of course it did and, tellingly, one of the few Berlinale films was awarded in which the pandemic as well as the mood, attitude towards life and everyday life of the pandemic have their place. Radu Jude couldn't have made the film any other way, as he had to shoot part of it in secret, due to the growing number of cases in the fall of last year. But maybe also, he suspects, because he was a thorn in the side of the then mayor of Bucharest.

At the same time, however, he was practically forced to make a movie in the present. “When you make a movie, you have the opportunity to capture the moment,” says Jude. " Even now. And so the pandemic became the canvas of history painted on it. "

“Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” would work just as well without people wearing masks in the background or during the grandparents' night fiasco finale. As in the whole film, this parents' night is about morals, lies, values ​​and prejudices and a private sextape by a teacher which begins the film and its odyssey through Bucharest.

This culminates in a furious date with angry parents who appear to be performing a social media swap on a stage. “In the end, it was exactly the model for this part of the film,” explains Jude. “Even though it's shown as the sitcom version of a real parent's night: the absurd talk, the change of topic and the accusations is just like a typical Facebook comment thread. I tried to capture exactly such a discussion in pictures: hysteria, absurdity, illogicality and outrage. "

Parents in disguise angry and mad at the end, at the beginning the wandering of the teacher accidentally exposed publicly and in the middle of the film a social slogan illustrated from A to Z: "Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn" is a triptych, a representation of morality divided into three parts. The film is a true cartoon, comedy, and satire that has something to say about just about everything and a big picture with a little story.

“It's a movie with a lot of ideas,” Jude said. “And at the same time, I always understood it more as a sketch and with this triptych in three parts, I tried to build at least formally a certain structure and at the same time simply to be able to pack everything that interests me. and leave it to the viewer to somehow combine the thoughts to be linked. " 

Broadcast: Inforadio, June 13, 2021, 10:10 a.m.