Romanian film review & interview – It’s a Woman’s World: House of Dolls

So many good documentaries premiered this summer at Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF) and one of them is Tudor Platon‘s Casa cu păpuși/House of Dolls, without a doubt the ultimate crowd-pleaser of the bunch. The film has been touring open-air festivals, and will hopefully be available to a larger audience as soon as the times allow for it. I talked to the director shortly after the film’s premiere in Cluj, and you can read our conversation after the film review below.

Having worked as a director of photography, Platon features himself in his first directing effort as he joins his grandmother, Cica, and her group of long-time friends, on their annual vacation. The ladies talk, have a barbecue, relax in the sauna, and chat some more while Platon’s camera unobtrusively records their days together. They discuss anything from fashion (jeans are ageless) to relationships (Cica’s hilarious account of her sister-in-law finding love at 70), old acquaintances (the obligatory gossip about who has aged well or not), and carving one’s place in a man’s world (Pupi's triumphant story of confronting her former harassing boss). Sometimes the young man joins in the conversation, and these are some of the most emotional parts of the film, when the women talk about marriage, aging, or lost loved ones.