Romanian cinema seems to feel uncomfortable with George Enescu, the most important Romanian composer and one of the most appreciated musicians of the 20th century. Violinist, conductor, educator, but above all composer, who in addition to a few hits (especially the rhapsodies) also composed a lot of profound and difficult music, a challenge for performers but also for listeners, Enescu traveled a winding path throughout his life, from his appearance in the world of music as a child prodigy, going through a sentimental life often in the focus of the scandal press, to the end of his life as an exile from Romania that had became a communist country, marked by illness and disillusionment. Paradoxically, no film has been dedicated to him so far. Director Toma Enache worked for many years on the construction of the project that became the film ‘Enescu, jupuit de viu‘ (English title – ‘Enescu Skinned Alive‘) which fits well into the trend of biographies of great composers that seem to enjoy success on screens in recent years. The result is one of those films that polarizes opinions, declared by some as a masterpiece or art film, criticized by others as ‘soft porn’ and blasphemy against a national cultural icon. I will try to share what I felt while watching it, my impressions being also a combination of contradictions.
Enescu’s biography is presented in somewhat chronological order, although there are many ‘flash-back’ and ‘flash-forward’ insertions. For the Romanian viewer, somewhat familiar with the composer’s biography, the exposition does not present any problems, but for less initiated viewers I think there will be quite a few difficulties in placing some episodes in time and especially in context. The emphasis is placed on the passionate love story between Enescu and Maruca Cantacuzino, which unfolded over the course of several decades. However, a problem arises here that I am not sure if it is technical or a directorial decision that is difficult to explain. Toma Enache uses very little makeup, or if he does, it is clumsy. Enescu seems frozen in an eternal allure around the age of 50 while Maria Rosetti Cantacuzino looks about 20 years younger. In reality, the two were quite close in age, Maruca being about three years older. Problematic decisions or executions, because, for example, the relationship of the woman about 50 years old with the philosopher Nae Ionescu over ten years younger is difficult to understand based on the way the protagonists look.
I cannot avoid the comparison with the film ‘Boléro’ by Anne Fontaine, made in the same year, which tells the story of the life of Maurice Ravel, Enescu’s contemporary. In both movies the scripts center around the gestation of the major mature work of each of the two composers – Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ and Enescu’s opera ‘Oedipe’. In my opinion, we learn much less about Enescu’s masterpiece in this film. Is Oedipus’ suffering meant to be a replica of the musician’s love pains, passionately loved but occasionally deceived by the capricious princess? We learn too little about Enescu the man and his relationships with the world around him. Toma Enache built sets, used authentic locations when he could, and created luxurious costumes to reconstruct the world of the Romanian aristocracy before World War II, but the image seemed as brilliant as it is superficial. The music is, of course, formidable, with Enescu performed by the Orchestre National de France conducted by Cristian Macelaru, but the spoken text does not always work well and sometimes sounds more like a precious documentary commentary. I was not enthusiastic about either the choice or the acting performances of Catalin Bocirnea and Theodora Sandu. They look great in the love scenes, but from a film about Enescu I expected something completely different. More about the soul and music, less about the flesh. The producers chose not to release the film in the commercial cinemas in Romania, limiting themselves to special screenings and now to broadcasting on television. Perhaps it would have been more successful in cinemas. If I’m wrong, ‘Enescu, jupuit de viu‘ may even become a cult film, not just one good for anniversary screenings.