Miseries of an Unloved, Aged Mother – Analysis on Child’s Pose (2013) – film analysis

Image credit: “Child’s Pose” directed by Călin Peter Netzer, produced by Ada Solomon, 2013.

Written by: Boglárka Angéla Farkas

Călin Peter Netzer’s 2013 Golden Bear winner film, Child’s Pose (Poziția copilului) is considered to be one of the greatest triumphs of the contemporary Romanian New Wave cinema. Displaying the movement’s thematic nodes – corruption, post-communist relations and generational conflicts – and presenting its narrative in a post-Dogma style, Netzer’s film aptly shows the dysfunctionality of a state through a dysfunctional family. As I’ll argue, this dysfunctionality takes shape in the inherently conscious representation of the (ageing) woman.

Cornelia (Luminiţa Gheorghiu), an ageing mother supposedly in her early sixties, suffers from the coldness of her estranged son, Barbu (Bogdan Dumitrache). Although she lives the life of the Romanian elite – confirmed by wealth, fur coats and good relations with high-ranking officials – Cornelia only longs for the love of Barbu. This “status quo” is shaken by an unbearable tragedy: Barbu accidentally runs over and kills a 14-year-old child, while speeding on the outskirts of a village, near Bucharest. Regardless of their troubled mother-son relationship, Cornelia’s maternal instincts kick in and bring her into action. She decides to protect her son from justice and prison at any cost.   

By looking at its narrative, what seems peculiar about Child’s Pose is that it de-emphasizes the role of Barbu, who is not only the perpetrator of the accident but (evidently) the most active agent in the formation of the external conflict. After the event, the son becomes completely passive and the mother becomes extremely active – getting involved in every aspect of the accident’s aftermath: from bribing and faking police statements to taking care of the mourning family’s funeral expenses. The binary opposition of active-passive becomes tangible in a gendered, age-related manner. Following the accident, at the police station, we see a shocked, young man (Barbu) and two expeditious elderly ladies (Cornelia and Olga, another member of the family), taking care of legal matters. Furthermore, the penultimate scene once again features two women – the elderly Cornelia and Barbu’s young girlfriend – visiting the mourning family’s home, while the terrified Barbu waits in the car.

Therefore, in Child’s Pose women and especially elder women are the ones, who are able to react after one man’s terrible act. Nevertheless, the accident serves merely as a catalyst, which unfolds a deeply troubled generational conflict. The spoiled young man despises his elderly parents because of their corruptness, but ultimately, he accepts their immoral solutions. “He said we’re a generation that needs to disappear off the face of the earth” – Cornelia tells Olga in the opening scene, paraphrasing his son. Yet the elderly generation Barbu talks about has not disappeared but on the contrary. According to Netzer’s vision, it seems that they are very much alive in present-day Romanian power relations.

Related films:

1. Child’s Pose is a 2013 Romanian drama film directed by Călin Peter Netzer. It stars Luminiţa Gheorghiu

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