The Other Irene
Cealalta Irina
Director Andrei Gruzsniczki
Romania 2008 / 90 mins
Cast
Andi Vasluianu, Doru Ana, Gabriel Spahiu, Dragos Bucur, Simona Popescu, Dan Astilean, Mihai Dinvale
Saturday 2 May 2009
4 pm
The Other Irene shares themes with some of the finest European thrillers, such as the nerve-wrecking The Vanishing (Netherlands, 1988), and it’s hard to believe the film is in fact based on a true story.
Reluctantly, security guard Aurel (Vasluianu) lets his wife Irene go on a working trip to Cairo. Having had a breath of fresh air, she returns transformed and soon sets out again, but this time she will not come back. Now Aurel’s true ordeal begins: the search for his wife amidst dubious bureaucrats, criminal embassies and hateful in-laws.
The Other Irene uncovers a political and bureaucratic landscape that is truly eerie to watch. The clean cinematography, especially apparent in the mall where Aurel works, beautifully emphasizes the main character’s solitude and actor Andi Vasluianu delicately performs the brooding desperation that’s at work inside this antihero.
