Three short years ago, Cristi Puiu’s The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, a dark odyssey lambasting the Romanian healthcare system, found its way onto many critics’ top ten lists and won several critical awards, including the ‘Un Certain Regard’ at Cannes. The film brought international attention to Romanian filmmaking, ushering in a new era that cineastes have labeled “The Romanian New Wave.”

Many of these films are personal stories, portraying the hardships of the proletariat during the notorious Ceausescu regime. On the heels of The Death of Mr. Lazarescu came Corneliu Porumboiu’s 2006 Camera d’Or-winning 12:08 East of Bucharest, chronicling the days leading up to the overthrow of Ceausescu, followed by the pièce de résistance: Christian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days – winner of the top prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, the Palm d’Or.

At a dingy college dorm room in 1987, roommates Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) and Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) discuss their day. As Gabita stays in the room, a high-strung Otilia barters for soap, cigarettes, and money from her dorm mates, and her posh boyfriend Adi (Alex Potocean). From the outset, it’s clear that this is a rough-and-tumble world predicated on compromise.

The camera tracks Otilia in a series of long tracking shots as she leaves the dorm room and heads to a local hotel where Gabita booked a room, but the inflexible receptionist claims no reservation was made, so the desperate Otilia is forced to look elsewhere. She settles on more expensive accommodations, and rendezvous with the headstrong Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov), who’s less-than-pleased that his precise instructions have not been met.

From there, the two head back to Otilia’s hotel room, where Gabita anxiously waits. The stoic man, Mr. Bebe, is an illegal abortionist, and when he finds out that Gabita is further along in her pregnancy than she claims – 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days to be exact – his mood changes and, seizing an opportunity, he raises his asking price considerably, demanding sexual favors from both women for his services.

Mr. Bebe, played with deft precision by Vlad Ivanov, is one of the scariest villains in recent memory because of his cold, calculating, and realistic nature. His matter-of-factness belies his condescension and wickedness, as he bullies the two helpless girls like an opportunistic dictator. And after the rapes are over, he assumes an almost concerned manner as he, in another long take, inserts a probe and injects fluid between Gabita’s stretched-out legs, gives them some instructions, and leaves.

Mungiu has a knack for making your stomach turn, while remaining discreet and tasteful. He remains respectful of the two women, with most of the violence occurring off-screen, save one horrifying take towards the end of the film where his camera strays on an image for shock value.

Otilia leaves Gabita in the hotel room for a few hours to attend Adi’s mother’s birthday party. In a “Last Supper”-like sequence, the camera is centered on Otilia, crammed between the bourgeois guests in another long take. As the minutes pass, an overwhelming sense of misery slowly builds – thanks in large part to Ms. Marinca’s uncanny ability to convey Otilia’s inner turmoil through mere facial expression – until Otilia can’t stand the torture any longer, and rushes back to Gabita.

4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days will elicit comparisons to Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake, thanks to its similar theme of women at odds with the repressive social mores of society, as well as its strong emphasis on character, and raw style. The performances are excellent across the board, with the highest praise going toward Anamaria Marinca, who is an absolute revelation as the desperate Otilia, and Vlad Ivanov as the sinister Mr. Bebe. Also, Laura Vasiliu is convincing as the naïve, negligent Gabita.

Filmmaker Christian Mungiu, along with his cinematographer Oleg Mutu (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu), displays an extraordinary mastery of form due to their artistic precision. Mungiu and Mutu are acute observers of the human condition, and brilliantly capture the urban claustrophobia and ugliness of life under Ceausescu through a combination of long, controlled takes, wide-angles, and shaky tracking shots.

This is cinematic naturalism at its finest.