After experiencing Radu Jude’s deep dive into all things Dracula at Fantastic Fest last year, I was all in on whatever the Romanian writer/director did next. That three-hour absurdist examination of Vlad the Impaler won me over with its bizarre realism, razor-sharp wit, and pitch-black humor wrapped in a scrappy DIY aesthetic. His latest film, Kontinental ’25, opening this week, isn’t quite the same absurdity overload—but that biting humor still lurks just beneath the surface of this sordid, slow-burn melodrama.
The key to unlocking the film lies in its title, a clear nod to Europe ’51, Roberto Rossellini’s spiritual drama starring Ingrid Bergman. In that film, a personal tragedy pushes a wealthy woman toward radical compassion—only for society to reject her transformation. Given that this is a Radu Jude film, however, expectations are quickly subverted.
Here, we follow Orsolya (Eszter Tompa), a legal college professor turned bailiff who, while carrying out an eviction, gives a squatter twenty minutes alone to gather himself—only to return and find he has taken his own life. After failing to revive him, Orsolya spends the rest of the film recounting the event to nearly everyone unfortunate enough to listen. Where Europe ’51charts a path toward spiritual awakening, Orsolya instead spirals outward, turning her trauma into a kind of social currency until she eventually exhausts any and all compassion that could be offered up by those around her.
The narrative unfolds over roughly a week through a series of dense, probing conversations about faith, history, poverty, and moral responsibility. While some of the film’s Romanian sociopolitical nuances may elude outsiders, including myself, its broader themes land with clarity. Orsolya’s retelling becomes a litmus test for the people around her: one acquaintance urges her toward social awareness by exposing her to extreme poverty, while another exploits her vulnerability for an affair. Across these interactions, her self-centeredness becomes increasingly difficult to ignore.
Tompa’s performance is magnetic precisely because she refuses to soften Orsolya’s contradictions. The character seems simultaneously burdened and energized by her newfound centrality, unraveling relationships with a quiet, relentless persistence. Equally striking is Jude’s visual treatment of Romania. He frames its architecture and cityscapes with an almost romantic attentiveness more commonly reserved for New York City, allowing spaces to breathe as his characters move through a cinematic world where reality and performance blur into one uneasy continuum.
Ultimately, Kontinental ’25 offers a bleakly funny meditation on the commodification of trauma. Orsolya leaves a trail of emotional wreckage in her wake, only to eventually step away and resume ordinary life as if nothing has changed. Jude’s film observes this cycle with clinical precision, skewering the modern impulse to transform suffering into spectacle—danger packaged for safe consumption. It’s a cynical vision, yes, but one that feels sharply attuned to the performative rhythms of contemporary life.
