FJORD Review

What if you move to a new country after the death of your parents and have to start completely over? The culture, language and religion are foreign to you. You are expected to assimilate to the new society you have entered. Now imagine this new country takes away your 5 young children, due to allegations made against your parenting. What would you do? 

In Cristian Mungiu's second Palme d’Or-winning film, Fjord, the examination of differing cultures is put on trial. The Gheorghui family immigrates to Norway from Romania due to the death of the patriarch, Mihai (Sebastian Stan), the parents. Lisbet (Renate Reinsve), the matriarch of the family, is originally from Norway, but went to Romania on a mission trip, which ended in her marrying Mihai. 

Together they have 5 children. Elia (Vanessa Ceban) and Emmanuel (Jonathan Ciprian Breazu) are the two eldest children. They have two younger children, and also a baby. Making them a family of 7, bigger than the average Norwegian family.

Only in Norway for a short time, their neighbours and schoolmates start to notice that the Gheorghui family have a completely different way of life. Praying every day, going to church, doing labour around the house, and not being allowed to go to a friend’s birthday. People outside looking in begin to judge the Gheorghui parents for how strict they are towards their children. 

Things escalate when a teacher makes an allegation of witnessing a mark of physical abuse on Elia. Elia tries to brush the mark off as nothing, but the school decides to bring in child protective services. After speaking with Elia and Emmanuel, the teacher believes repeated and ongoing abuse is occurring in the Gheorghuis’ home. Due to Norway placing a legal duty on reporting any situation involving a child and violence, all 5 children are removed from the home. 

I won’t dive too deep into spoilers, but one thing I thought was extremely interesting was that the children are questioned in Norwegian and not Romanian, which is their native language. Leaving room for cultural and language barriers. Not everything from Romanian translates seamlessly to Norwegian. 

Fjord dives into the grey and questions whether progressive countries are always smarter than conservative ones. The film does not take sides, but shows you mainly from the Norwegian perspective. The outside judgment and assumptions made about the Gheorghui parents, when there is no real evidence to back up the seriousness of the allegations. How a family can be torn apart.

I found the film to be incredibly smart at navigating such a difficult subject matter as parental abuse, the legal system and not being a native to the country you live in. Mungiu is not afraid to show the messy and hard-to-watch conversations that I’m worried society continues to turn its back on. The only way to get through the hard is to discuss it, yet I find most people don’t want to talk through it, but rather make up their minds on the spot. 

Stan and Reinsve give strong performances, even if they are reserved. More quiet and less showing than some of their past work. However, I do think Stan has a chance of receiving nominations during the awards season for Lead Actor. I continue to be impressed with how he grows as an actor. Reinsve also brings her all to the screen, and I believe her performance is strong enough for nominations in Lead Actress, but I’m not sure if her role is emotional enough for people to be drawn to it. 

The cinematography is beautiful. Mungiu uses one-shots as a way to immerse you in the snow-covered city of Fjord. Long conversations play out, so you have to pay attention to every word. Using cool tones of blues and greys adds to the feeling of dread throughout the film. The lack of non-diegetic sound is also noted, as it allows you to focus on the story being told. Only short moments of diegetic sound are used in the film, adding to the tension.

Fjord is a film you must go into with an open mind. I personally had a fascinating time with it, and give props to the Cannes Jury for not shying away from picking a winner with a lot to say. In a time when art is being threatened, I think it is wonderful to have a director like Mungiu who wants to tell deep stories that are not always shiny. I would highly suggest everyone see Fjord when it comes out for general audiences.

Fjord will be in theatres on October 9th, 2026.

🍿SCORE = 89 / 100