«Les Siffleurs», a serious Romanian thriller

Cinema Wednesdays - Ivan Garcia

Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu's new feature sees a corrupt policeman who has to learn the whistling language in order to free a mafioso. A film that kept me on the edge of my seat and shows that Romanian cinema needs to be taken seriously.

Seeing the trailer, I thought - wrongly - that Les Siffleurs would be a good opportunity to poke fun at the genre of the thriller, and laugh at a film that, with its Eastern accent, overplays its action scenes to make up for some of its weaknesses. These thoughts were gross errors. My prejudices came up against an intelligent and, above all, serious film, very serious indeed, which masters the art of suspense and narration perfectly. However, the film sometimes lacks depth when it comes to the psychology of the characters and their roles in this whistling plot. That said, a little background is in order.

Policeman in search of a whistle

Cristi, a forty-something Romanian police inspector, lands on the island of La Gomera, where he meets Kiko, a native accomplice. Kiko explains that, in order to carry out their plan without the Romanian police breathing down their necks, our dear Colombo will have to learn a new language - English. silbo. This is the whistling language spoken by the island's inhabitants, invented by their ancestors the Guanches. This will enable them to communicate and scheme with complete peace of mind under the noses of the Romanian anti-Mafia brigade.  

For some time now, Cristi has been in love with Gilda, his (ex-)girlfriend. bad boy Zsolt that Cristi must, according to the plan drawn up by Kiko and the big boss Paco, escape. So Zsolt is being held prisoner in Romania, and he's hidden some money, the whereabouts of which nobody - except him, of course - knows. Hence the need to organize his escape with care and cunning.

Narration with gaps and narrative gaps

As I said earlier, the film is a master of suspense. In other words, the plot leaves us waiting, languishing, and information is delivered in dribs and drabs. This is complemented by a gradual introduction of the characters, with transitions featuring colorful paintings with the names of the various protagonists. Take, for example, the film's first flashback, in which Gilda, in her Canarian mansion, asks Cristi to forget what happened between them in Bucharest.

No sooner said than done: a magnificent color screen with the name Gilda at its center takes the viewer to Bucharest, where Gilda and Cristi meet, under police surveillance, and indulge in a wild scene of mischief. So far, we love it, especially as the director doesn't overdo it, making each scene unique and enjoyable.

Where it all goes wrong is in the interactions between the characters. The plot is simple - free Zsolt by not being framed by the Romanian police - but the protagonist, Cristi, is in a bad way. At the crossroads between his role as policeman, apprentice mafioso and Gilda's lover, his alliances change frequently throughout the film. For example, when his boss Magda begins to suspect him, Cristi has to make a U-turn and rethink his entire plan. It's easy to get caught up in the game, wondering how this prestidigitator is going to get away with it, but it quickly becomes complicated...

In the same vein, by dint of subtlety and the desire to concentrate on this plot, we end up knowing very little about the various characters (their past, their way of being, etc.). For example, we never really find out who Paco is - a trivial detail perhaps - or, more importantly, how Cristi, who, according to his mother, was «such a good boy», ended up in this mafia story? At times, I admit, one or two more action scenes wouldn't have been a luxury, as the film remains very psychological.

Aesthetics pop’

The aesthetics of Corneliu Porumboiu's film are highly realistic, both in terms of the settings and the characters. pop culture. The colorful tableaux and the music, deliberately based on popular songs, help to create a familiar, even familiar atmosphere in the midst of so much darkness. Just as the opening scene, in which Cristi arrives on the island by ferry, is set to the sound of music, so is the opening scene, in which Cristi arrives on the island by ferry. The Passenger by Iggy Pop. In terms of sequence division and narrative, it would seem that Porumboiu's film was inspired - inevitably - by certain Quentin Tarantino films, such as Pulp Fiction or Kill Bill.

In fact, the film proves its intelligence by scattering little clues here and there for the attentive viewer. In the fiction, an establishment called «Hotel Opera», run by a bald man, lets all its guests hear opera music. In another setting, Gilda, who is driving Zsolst's car and talking to Cristi, switches on the CD player, which plays... opera music. The link is thus made between the hotel and Zsolst, who is probably its real owner. Subtle links are found throughout much of the film.

Les Siffleurs by Corneliu Porumboiu showed me that today's Romanian cinema must be seen as a serious art form, far removed from the a priori and daddy clichés. With a good dose of information, the director manages to let us know enough to avoid sinking into caricature.

Write to the author: ivan.garcia@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © Filmcoopi