The Moromete Family: Father and Son – the   end of the trilogy inspired by Marin Preda   

A short review of one of 2024's most anticipated films

Corina Sabău, 11.01.2025, 14:00

Stere Gulea’s The Moromete Family: Father and Son was one of the most anticipated Romanian feature films of 2024. It marks the final episode in a unique trilogy in Romanian cinematography, inspired by the life and works of Romanian novelist Marin Preda. The first film was launched in 1988, a quite accurate adaptation of the first volume of the novel The Moromete Family. Screened in 2018, the sequel, The Moromete Family: On the Edge of Time draws on the second volume, Life as Prey as well as on Marin Preda’s literary articles. Written by Stere Gulea, the final part of the trilogy was inspired by Marin Preda’s private journals, as well as documents and archives that helped rebuild the mood of the 1950s, a time of great social and ideological upheaval, also marked by the coming to power of the Communist Party, which soon became the only official party in Romania. The Moromete Family: Father and Son picks up where the second film left off, telling the story of Niculae, Ilie Moromete’s youngest-born, who is now a successful writer. A persona of the author himself, Niculae is disappointed with his father’s political beliefs and by other writers who are forced to abide by ideological constraints. The film also dwells on two major artists who made a powerful impression on Marin Preda’s career: Nina Cassian and Aurora Cornu. “The film traces Marin Preda’s behavior and attitudes at the time in various political contexts. I’ve tried to understand and retrace his remarkable journey through fiction. I very much liked the idea of making a film about that period which is now largely passed into oblivion”, filmmaker Stere Gulea said.

Olimpia Melinte plays Vera Solomon, a character inspired by Nina Cassian. We’ve asked her to tell us more about the changes operated to Stere Gulea’s script and how she researched her part in the film, given that Nina Cassian was a multi-faceted artist, at times both accomplice and troublemaker for the Stalinist regime of the time.

“It all started with a casting. I met Stere Gulea, and as I got to learn more about the script and his expectations, I eventually concluded that it was fate that I should portray this character. On the physical side, there’s little resemblance between Nina Cassian and I. What we do have in common is a passion for poetry, music, drawing and painting, as Nina Cassian really loved the fine arts. She was an accomplished artist, and I think her passion helped her overcome that very difficult time in her life, when for a long time she chose to sing instead of write, due to the complicated political context. Her passion for the arts was what struck a powerful impression in me. As for the research, I spent a lot of time talking to and rehearsing with Stere Gulea. I also read Nina’s journals, the interviews she gave, everything I could find online about her. Obviously, that included the documentary on Nina Cassian, “The distance between myself and I”, directed by Mona Nicoară and Dana Bunescu, I found it really helpful. It helped me to understand this artist better, because I must confess I was a little prejudiced against her. But all my preconceptions vanished as soon as I started working, because I really wanted to understand Nina deeply and intimately, as other people had failed to do, and as she can be understood towards the end of her life, thanks to the documentary I mentioned. There were times when Nina Cassian would put away her public persona, when she allowed herself to live this love story with Marin Preda, a love that is hard to put into words.”

Olimpia Melinte also told us how the relationship between Marin Preda and Nina Cassian was reconstructed in the movie.

“We haven’t set out to provide explanations, because in life it is not always that one gets to explain oneself. Or maybe many years later, when two people reconnect, they get to explain some things. As far as our characters go, we’ve tried to reconstruct their relationship using their diaries, and we wanted our reconstruction to be as close as possible to how things actually went. It was tremendous work for all of us, because the script got changed many, many times, new scenes were introduced as we went, because Mr. Gulea kept working the whole time. Sometimes we would find a new scene introduced right on the day of the shot. For instance, the story of Marin Preda and Nina Cassian was not a major direction in the original script, when we started rehearsing. But I think it gained weight as we progressed with our work, and I’m glad it did, because it was quite important in their lives.”

Apart from Olimpia Melinte, the cast includes some of the most highly appreciated Romanian actors. Alex Călin plays Niculae Moromete and Horaţiu Mălăele plays Ilie Moromete for the second time in his career. In The Moromete Family 3, the public will also see Mara Bugarin, Răzvan Vasilescu, Iulian Postelnicu, Cătălin Herlo, Dana Dogaru, Toma Cuzin, Ana Ciontea, Laurențiu Bănescu, Conrad Mericoffer, Ioan Andrei Ionescu, Andreea Bibiri, Ilinca Hărnuț, Dorina Chiriac and Oana Pellea.

Cristian Niculescu was in charge with the set design, and Dana Păpăruz did the costume design. The cinematographer was Vivi Drăgan Vasile, Alexandra Gulea did the editing, Ioan Filip and Dan-Ștefan Rucăreanu did the sound design, and Cristian Lolea wrote the score for the movie.

The Moromete Family 3 was screened in many national film festivals (TIFF, TIFF Chișinău, Romanian Film Nights (Serile Filmului Românesc) – Iași, Film in the Village (Film in Sat) – Peștișani, TIFF Timișoara), and won the audience award at the 2024 Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF). (VP, AMP)