The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

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The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

 

BY ROGER EBERT / May 12, 2006

 

 

Tartan Films presents a film directed by Cristi Puiu. Written by Puiu

and Razvan Radulescu. Running time: 154 minutes. Rated R (for language

and brief nudity). In Romanian with English subtitles.

 

It must be like this with many people, and not just in Romania. A smelly

old drunk calls for an ambulance after having a headache for four days.

The ambulance service asks him so many questions he doubts they believe

him, and he asks his neighbors for help. They stretch him out on a sofa,

ask him how he feels and complain about the stink of his cats. They call

the ambulance again.

 

" The Death of Mr. Lazarescu " will follow this dying man for most of the

night, as he gradually slips away from the world and the world little

notices. The movie is not heartless but it is matter-of-fact, and makes

no attempt to heighten the drama. In its relentless gaze at exactly what

happens, it reminds me of the Dardenne brothers ( " The Son, " " L'Enfant " ),

whose films see everything but do not intervene.

 

Mr. Lazarescu (Ion Fiscuteanu) has long lived in his cluttered Bucharest

apartment. He has a sister in a nearby town, and a child in Canada,

neither much concerned with him. He gives such information to his

neighbors, while slowly drifting out of contact with reality. Then the

ambulance arrives, with the attendant and the driver Leo (Gabriel

Spahiu). In the course of this night, they will take him to four

hospitals. It is a long night and a long film, but not a slow one,

because we are drawn so deeply into it.

 

At hospitals, the obviously incompetent Mr. Lazarescu is asked to fill

out forms, sign consents and answer questions he does not understand.

Each hospital suggests sending him to another one. He is nevertheless

given a scan which reveals a blood clot on his brain, and a problem with

his liver that " nobody, " a doctor observes, " is going to be able to do

anything about. " One of the CT scan technicians almost rejoices: " These

neoplasms are Discovery Channel stuff! "

 

The film's focus is never on Mr. Lazarescu, who becomes disoriented and

finally almost speechless, and who was probably not good company on his

best days. It does not help that he wets himself during a CT scan, and

then soils his pants. We focus on the ambulance attendant, who is given

one opportunity after another to dump her patient, but stubbornly wants

to be sure someone actually pays him attention. Her job is to take sick

people to hospitals. If they are not admitted, her life is meaningless.

 

She is not portrayed as a heroine, and indeed is passive in the face of

sarcasm by a smart-ass resident who mocks her description of Mr.

Lazarescu's problems. She knows that what he needs immediately is brain

surgery to relieve the clot. One doctor who agrees with this diagnosis

nevertheless insists on a signature of consent: " If I operate without

his signature, I could go to jail. " The doctor's solution is a perfect

Catch-22: " Drive him for a while until he's comatose, and then bring him

back. "

 

At the fourth hospital, Mioara finds a doctor who is just ending her

shift, but wearily agrees to take the patient. And only then can Mioara

leave -- and disappear from the film, because we follow the dying body

of Mr. Lazarescu through the hands of all these strangers who have only

an immediate role in his final day. Even in the first three hospitals,

he has continued to wear his ratty stocking cap and threadbare knit

sweater. Now at last he is undressed and bathed, the nurses sponging him

and shaving his head with quiet professionalism.

 

The film, directed and co-written by Cristi Puiu, has been described as

a criticism of the health services in Romania. At least in Romania he is

not asked for his insurance company, and he has a theoretical right to

free medical care. On Cinematical.com, a doctor posted this message: " As

a Romanian physician I would say it's worse than shown. The misery of

Romanian hospitals is not shown at all. By the way, this is based on a

true story of a man turned down at five Bucharest hospitals in 1997 and

eventually left in the street by the paramedics and found dead next

morning (the paramedic got fired). "

 

There is no need to fire Mioara and her driver, although in the film's

final shot we wonder whether Mr. Lazarescu is still alive. I have

undergone various medical adventures in recent years, and have been

moved by the unfailing competence and care of the doctors and nurses I

have come into contact with; I admire them even more because I sense

this movie is accurate about many hospitals everywhere, in which

everyone is overworked, there are more problems than solutions, and the

smelly, incoherent Mr. Lazarescu seems doomed no matter what is done. He

is not a candidate for triage.

 

I keep thinking about Mioara. She is insulted by young residents whose

experience is far less than hers. She carries Mr. Lazarescu's X-rays

around with her from one set of uncaring eyes to another. She could get

angry, but she has been on the job too long for that. They all have.

There are no " E.R. " -style interns calling for transfusions or racing

down corridors with gurneys. In " The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, " the

patient is another detail in an endless series of impossible situations

and exhausting overnight shifts. If you start thinking of Lazarescu, of

all the Lazarescus, as people who deserve your full concern and

attention, you could go mad. Yes, the doctors and nurses chat about

getting an espresso or using each other's cell phones. Life goes on.

 

There is a rule about the movies: Never take an expert to a movie about

his or her specialty. " The Death of Mr. Lazarescu " is an exception. I

suspect medical professionals would see much they recognize in this

movie. The credits include a long list of technical advisers, but it

doesn't take an adviser to convince you the movie is authentic. Like

" United 93 " and the work of the Dardenne brothers, it lives entirely in

the moment, seeing what happens as it happens, drawing no conclusions,

making no speeches, creating no artificial dramatic conflicts, just

showing people living one moment after another, as they must.

 

Note: The man's full name is Dante Remus Lazarescu. Dante wrote of the

circles of hell. Remus was a co-founder of ancient Rome, killed by his

twin. Lazarescu reminds us of Lazarus, who was lucky enough to find

someone who could raise him from the dead.

 

 

copyright 2006, rogerebert.com