A Christian couple in Ålesund, Norway, returns with five children from Romania. After a teacher notices bruises on their daughter Elia during gym class, child protection officer Gunda is called. The children are questioned with leading prompts and admit to occasional physical punishment described as a slap. Police become involved and criminal charges are filed against the father, Mihai. The mother, Lisbet, is confronted at home and told the children will be placed into protective custody while allegations are investigated, with only limited concessions such as expressing milk. The family hires a lawyer who withdraws, and the father seeks help from a Romanian evangelical group as the situation intensifies.
"When Elia (Vanessa Ceban) and her brother, Timotei (Filip Sebastian Berau), are confronted with a bunch of leading questions from Gunda (played with mirthless aplomb by Ellen Dorrit Petersen, who has form tormenting Reinsve in Armand) and a teacher at the school, they dutifully cop to receiving the occasional "slap on the butt" from their parents. The police are called and criminal charges are brought against Mihai, while Lisbet is ambushed at home by Gunda who informs her - with no little relish, it seems - that the kids will be placed into protective custody while the allegations are investigated."
"As a concession, she is allowed to express milk to be sent to her baby. Mungiu maintains an initially cool distance from the Gheorgius, as if to ask a question of his audience, but they are basically a decent bunch: Mihai with his downbeat, slightly Ned Flanders-ish airs, Lisbet his more naturally effusive foil. They engage a lawyer who leaves them in the lurch after deciding she doesn't care much for the stricken Mihai's "tone" - one of many moments in the film where we're left to wonder what the family is really on trial for here."
"Working with a largely international cast for the first time in his career, Mungiu's film stars Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan as Lisbet and Mihai Gheorgiu, who recently returned to Lisbet's native Ålesund from Mihai's home country of Romania with their five kids. It's a beautiful place, but the welcome soon turns as frosty as the weather when a teacher finds bruises on their daughter Elia's shoulder during gym class, and the school's child protection officer, Gunda, is called in."
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