Film Archive

By the Rails

Official Selection - Competition 2016 / Dincolo de calea ferata / Romania, Sweden 2015

Adrian left for a year’s work abroad to help his family financially but when he returns home nothing is like it was before. His wife acts so differently, it’s as if they were never married. In his third feature, director Cătălin Mitulescu becomes an observer of that key moment when a love relationship teeters on the fine line between breaking up and beginning anew.

Synopsis

Sometimes we think we know those close to us so well that a year apart won’t make any difference. Adrian seems to have relied on that fact when he temporarily left his wife Monica and his little boy to improve the family lot by working in Italy. After returning home, however, he becomes disillusioned. Monica behaves so differently than she used to that Adrian barely recognizes her; it’s almost as if they were never married. Even his son Luca is far more grown up than he could have imagined. During Adrian’s first night back much is revealed that had been left unspoken in the marriage, and not only because of the distance that separated them. The couple try to clear up the misunderstandings that have accumulated between them and to find the spark that originally attracted them to each other – if it still exists.… In his third feature, director Cătălin Mitulescu becomes a patient and impartial observer of that decisive moment when a love relationship teeters on the fine line between breaking up and beginning anew.

Anna Kořínek

About the film

88 min / Color, DCP
International premiere
Director Cătălin Mitulescu / Screenplay Cătălin Mitulescu / Dir. of Photography Liviu Marghidan / Music Jean Paul Wall / Editor Ion Ioachim Stroe / Art Director Daniel Raduta / Producer Daniel Mitulescu, Cătălin Mitulescu / Production Strada Film / Coproduction Film i Väst, The Chimney, Digital Cube / Cast Alexandru Potaceanu, Ada Condeescu / Sales Cercamon / Contact Strada Film

About the director

Cătălin Mitulescu (b. 1972, Bucharest) graduated in directing from the National University of Drama and Film Art in Bucharest (2001). His career is closely connected to the Cannes festival: His first two shorts Bucharest – Vienna 8:15 (2000) and 17 Minutes Late (2002) both competed in the Cinéfondation section; his third short film Traffic (2004) earned the Palme d’Or. The feature debut The Way I Spent the End of the World (Cum mi-am petrecut sfârșitul lumii, 2006), which won the Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award for best European project, was selected to compete in Un Certain Regard, winning Best Actress. Five years later his second feature Loverboy (2011) was presented in the same section. In addition to directing, Mitulescu has served as coproducer and co-screenwriter on other successful shorts and features.