Philanthropy

Title: Philanthropy (2002)/ Filantropica (original title)
Date: March 15, 2002 (Romania)
Director/Writer: Nae Caranfil
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Stars: Mircea Diaconu, Gheorghe Dinica, Mara Nicolescu
Format: Streaming
Country of Origin: Romania

Film Synopsis

The film Philanthropy or Filantropica (the Romanian title) follows a middle aged romanian english teacher named Ovidiu Gorea. When he falls in love with a young model he joins an underground scamming business to create the illusion that he leads a luxurious lifestyle. When his two lives get to close his scam boss Mr. Pepe sets up the most elaborate job yet, but when Ovidiu ruins it for what he thought was the life of a child he ends up becoming the property of his boss.

Scene Synopsis

In this sequence we see Ovidiu Gorea accept the scamming job and meet his “wife” Miruna for their first job. While talking before the cheque comes Ovidiu questions this job and his dignity but before he can exit the restaurant Mr. Pepe stops him and threatens him into the job. Once they start scamming Ovidiu realizes he loves scamming and a montage ensues of them scamming restaurants.

Scene Analysis

A montage and the scene prior to it at (00:42:10) is prominent in the film. This sequence brings Ovidiu into the scamming underworld and shows us how much power Mr. Pepe has in the business. The first shot is a static Medium shot of Mr. Pepe sitting at a big desk smoking, he picks up the phone receiving the news that Ovidiu decided to join him and do the scam. This shot shows power in Mr. Pepe with the static and the smoke covering his face. Then the camera cuts to a bus passing by with a quick pan up to reveal Miruna and then following her panning right with her to reveal Ovidiu waiting for her.

We cut to the inside of a fancy restaurant as the “married couple” walks in. The camera slowly pans right as they walk away from the camera where they find their table, The restaurant is visibly almost empty with only one other person eating in the shot. We then get five close-ups on the table quickly. One of the Bouquet of flowers being dropped on the table, leading us to believe this is not Miruna’s first scam, then one shot on the candle as it is lit by a match, the third of Miruna opening a match box and dumping it on the table with two rings inside, the fourth of Miruna putting on a ring and the fifth of Ovidiu putting on a ring. We then slow it down with a long static medium shot of the two sitting at the table, fiddling away until the waiter comes with coffee. This static shot lets us take a long look at both Ovidiu and Miruna and we can see Ovidiu is fiddling more then Miruna and is visibly nervous and feels he is losing his self-respect.

The Camera cuts to a waiter bringing out a dish of food with the restaurant now packed and bustling, we follow the waiter through the crowds of people with a pan to the right. This pan over all the people in the restaurant shows how many people will be watching Ovidius stunt. The pan ends on the couple and we see in the background the beggar children outside the window looking at them. In the next shot we see Ovidius look out at the children and then a shot of the children’s faces outside the window a pan back to Ovidius face. The camera is making the clear connection that Ovidius is just like the poor beggar children in the streets, we see that Ovidius also makes this connection when he says “what the hell am I doing here?” Ovidius thinks this is “below his dignity” and no longer wants to participate in this scam. When Ovidius says he’s leaving and starts to get up we see the conversation between him and Miruna from outside at the children’s perspective and we also see them leaving as Ovidius leaves from the table.

As soon as Ovidius takes a step away from the tables and the camera Mr. Pepe stands up from an opposing table and pretends to recognise him and sits him back down at the table. We cut to a close up of Mr. Pepe with one arm on Ovidius shoulder and the other directly in front of him, the close up has Ovidius in the left corner of the screen and Mr. Pepe taking up the majority of the screen. This shot shows now that Ovidius is in Mr. Pepe’s scam business, he is in control and has all the power. Mr. Pepe threatens Ovidius and then we cut to a shot medium shot of all three of them sitting at table. Mr. Pepe calls for the bill and then leaves the shot. The waiter brings the bill and then starts walking away. Miruna calls for the waiter to come back and then we cut to a close up of Miruna asking about the bill followed by a Reverse shot on the waiter. We then cut back to Miruna starting to raise her voice, followed by a close-up of Ovidius looking out of place and very nervous to be bringing so much attention to them. We then have 4 back and forth close-ups between Miruna and the waiter. Miruna gives Ovidius the bill and he has a back and forth close-up with the waiter which ends with a quick shot of Miruna crying and then a close up of a glass she knocked over breaking on the ground. The next shot is a pan over the room with everyone in tableau. This shot draws emphasis to Ovidius realizing that he loves the attention of the restaurant and we then see the glass break again but when we come up we get a montage of Ovidius and Miruna doing more scams and having fun doing it. The montage is also comedic and quite funny. The Montage ends with a close up of someone counting money and then fades to a close up of Ovidius face.

Finally, this sequence is a great representation of Romania cinema.