The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

Watch The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Moartea domnului Lăzărescu, 2005) online on iFILM — directed by Cristi Puiu, 154 minutes, Prix Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2005, and a cornerstone of the Romanian New Wave.

Dante Lazarescu, 63, lives alone in Bucharest with his cats and a chronic drinking habit. One night his head won't stop pounding. He calls an ambulance. Nurse Mioara (Luminița Gheorghiu) arrives and starts shepherding him between hospitals — each with a different diagnosis, each with the same institutional indifference. Ion Fiscuteanu plays Lazarescu as a man slowly losing the thread of his own existence while the system runs its procedures. Nothing is exaggerated. That's what makes it hard to watch.

Puiu's film operates on pure observation rather than dramaturgy. By the end, you know exactly how bureaucratic indifference kills. Stream The Death of Mr. Lazarescu on iFILM.