For those who are familiar with a few of Malvina Ursianu’s films, “Gioconda fara suris” (“Gioconda without a Smile”) is already heralding some of her cherished motifs: the love triangle, consisting of two good friends and a woman they both love; re-living past memories and analyzing them critically; the meaning of success and failure; the shifting positions of force and weakness.
Of course, this first film is a bit untoward, some lines are abrupt, some cuts between scenes too steep, some attitudes too rigid, but all the magic is there. Some people may reproach it some clichés of the time (the conquests of victorious socialism, the importance of new technological discoveries made by Romanian engineers; the well-deserved dissolution of a degenerate bourgeoisie), but those are just the background of the very credible story. The cinematography is beautiful (there is one wide shot of factory chimneys covered in lights against the morning sky which impressed me in particular), the music is well-chosen, even if not as refined as in “Trecatoarele iubiri” (“Transient Affairs”), for example.
The actors’ performances are remarkable, especially that of Ion Marinescu (playing the poet Caius), who, later on, unfortunately specialized in bad guys and rogues – here, he displays an almost sickly sensitivity he keeps hiding behind arrogance and malice, managing to get a very good balance between them. Silvia Popovici (playing the engineer Irina) is a bit stiff, even after the script would allow her to give up her pretense of independence and self-assuredness, but she manages to be very convincing in the final scenes, letting the emotions take over and making up for all the rest. Gheoghe Cozorici (playing the engineer Cosma) is well-cast as a common-sense, unassuming middle-aged man, a family man and a successful engineer, performing with his usual ease and naturalness. The rest of the cast find their way in between, with the notable performances of Lucia Muresan (playing the doctor Ioana), another strong woman who wants to protect the poor poet from himself, and Maria Cumbari (playing the student Rita), who clumsily tries to seduce Caius, but quickly realizes he is not what she wants (perhaphs showing more sense than the two mature women).
All in all, if you’re interested in Malvina Ursianu and want to see a well-done film of the ’60s, I believe it still has a lot to tell us today.
