Tudor Giurgiu returns with an explosive feature that oscillates between romantic comedy and tragedy. 3 Days in September is a realist portrait of betrayal infused with acerbic black humour characteristic of the Romanian New Wave of the mid-2000s. The film opens on a tranquil seascape, where a couple, Bianca (Andreea Vasile) and Victor (Emilian Oprea), reflect on the details of their impending wedding in a resort town on the Black Sea.
The following evening, as preparations for the ceremony gather momentum in a hotel garden where the in-laws clink glasses beside a candle-lit pool, an unfamiliar and visibly distressed woman storms into the bridal suite, delivering devastating revelations about Victor.
Most striking is Giurgiu’s ambition in capturing the swift escalation of drama within a 65-minute single take, chosen to immerse the audience in the emotional freefall of the protagonist and the unravelling of a relationship. Vasile delivers a tour-de-force performance as the bride-to-be navigating confusion, shock, hysteria, grief, heartbreak and vengeance, ultimately arriving at a moment of self-realisation and tentative liberation.
