Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu has been a mainstay of international film for many years now, delivering such acclaimed works as 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and R.M.N. However, his latest film, Fjord, is his most ambitious project yet and while it doesn’t live up to the high bar set by the past work of Mungiu, but it’s a solid prestige drama kept afloat by very strong work from its lead actors.
What is Fjord about?
Fjord is inspired by the true story of a Romanian couple whose children were taken away from them after teachers reported them to social services over their strict and potentially abusive use of discipline. Mungiu’s script changes the name and fictionalizes the story, and shockingly forces it to fit within a well-worn formula — something that will come as a bit of a surprise to fans.
Fjord Review
One of the most disappointing things about Fjord is that it lacks the political sharpness that many of Mungiu’s films have had in the past. There is certainly some subtext here about issues like immigration, but these aspects of the story that seem like they would interest Mungiu most based on his past end up taking the backseat. It almost gets there talking about these important issues of racism and xenophobia, but it does not deliver.
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Instead, what we get is a pretty straightforward courtroom drama. Mungiu doesn’t seem particularly interested in the bureaucracy of the system (another approach that could have been taken to make the film feel more unique and refreshing), but the family dynamic and its disruption. And because of this, it feels less like social commentary than it does uplifting “based on a true story” Oscars bait, which feels like a far cry from anything the Romanian filmmaker has made in the past.
That being said, the characters do have a decent amount of complexity, as Mungiu presents the audience with the moral dilemma of the story. The conflict is not one of “Did they/didn’t they?” or “What would you do?” but “To what extent is this acceptable?” and, more importantly, why you feel that way. To achieve this, the characters needed to be frustrating but not totally unlikable, allowing them to exist in this gray area, and Mungiu’s script succeeds here.
What really elevates Fjord, though, is the commitment of its cast. Acting for the first time in his native Romanian language, Sebastian Stan is a knockout. Don’t let the hype fool you — he’s not “unrecognizable,” just boasting a pretty unflattering bald look that would probably be career suicide for most post-MCU actors. The level of nuance he brings to his role here is very similar to that which he brought to other indie films like A Different Man and The Apprentice. He has a clear understanding of how to find both the good and the bad in these very frustrating people, and it lends itself to a compelling watch.
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Also impressive is Renate Reinsve, reuniting with Stan again after A Different Man. Her role is a bit more one-note, leaning on the emotion of sadness more than anything else, but she does a great job. It’s more understated than her work in her star-making roles in The Worst Person in the World and Sentimental Value, but having this level of quiet power is just as impressive, if not more, than having a commanding screen presence.
Is Fjord worth watching?
When Fjord was announced to have a more star-studded cast that he has worked with in the past, some feared that Cristian Mungiu would be selling out to make something more mainstream and awards-friendly. That is, unfortunately, the case. But thanks to strong performances from Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, Fjord manages to be mostly successful, if far too soft.
Fjord premiered at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, which runs May 12-23.
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