Oscar hopeful ‘Fjord’ puts fiery clash of values on display

TORONTO – In the legal family drama "Fjord," the constant threat of avalanches looms over a Norwegian town surrounded by mountains. Yet it's the conflicting belief systems among its residents that's the biggest cause of friction and chaos.

Written and directed by Cristian Mungiu, "Fjord" (in theaters Oct. 9) won the prestigious Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, had a splashy premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and is on target for a best picture nomination at the upcoming Academy Awards. And while this early Oscar contender centers on a Romanian-Norwegian couple, the battle between liberal and conservative values it presents can relate to a wide swath of people.

"I realized that we live in a very polarized and radicalized world, separated in groups of people with very, very different beliefs," Mungiu said during a TIFF post-screening Q&A. "There's no dialogue between these groups, and this is how we ended up having this kind of hatred."

IT engineer Mihai Gheorghiu (Sebastian Stan) and his wife, hospice nurse Lisbet (Renate Reinsve), move their family from his homeland of Romania to hers, though some of their new Norwegian neighbors and fellow locals don't totally agree with the Gheorghius'…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/entertainment/