Valentin Popescu

Raised as a boy because her mechanic father was obsessed with having a son, a beautiful teenage girl goes on a difficult quest to find her identity.

A headliner of the recent Romanian New Wave, director Cristi Puiu’s slyly quotidian murder mystery confirms the vision revealed in his critical darling The Death of Mr. Lazerscu: a fastidious attention to social reality, human interaction, and the darkened moral pallor of post-Ceaușescu Romania.

Divided into two chapters, director Bogdan George Apetri's Miracle begins with the young, beautiful Cristina Tofan (Ioana Bugarin) sneaking away from an isolated convent. Working in the style of the Romanian New Wave, Apetri withholds key information about her motives as we follow her enigmatic journey, allowing tension to steadily build to a wavering precipice. The film's second part follows Marius Preda (Emanuel Pârvu), a determined inspector retracing Cristina's steps days after her departure. Here, the narrative opens into both gripping police thriller and devastating social commentary, as Marius gradually uncovers clues and revelations leading not only to the unfathomable truth behind Cristina’s mysterious actions, but possibly, to an actual miracle as well.