(2007)

Submitted by Evan B

1 votes 4

Moviepooper (Short Ending)
Despite the destruction it causes to her life, Otilia helps Gabita have a succesful abortion and disposes of the baby’s body. She and Gabita agree never to speak of the experience again.

Movie Spoiler (Full Summary)
Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) and Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) are roomates at a college in Romania in the 1980s when the country was under control of an oppressive regime. Corruption and the black market thrive. We soon discover that Gabita is pregnant out of wedlock, and that Otilia will help her get an illegal abortion, a crime both could be heavily punished for. Otilia is also in a relationship with Adi (Alexandru Potocean), a seemingly well-to-do college student who knows nothing of Gabita’s predicament. Adi’s mother’s birthday is the same date as the planned abortion, and Otilia agrees to attend the dinner and meet his family and family friends.

Gabita is clearly overwhelmed, so Otilia handles all the arrangements. She finds out that Gabita did not book a room in the hotel that she had promised to do, so Otilia has to bribe a worker in another hotel to let them have a private room there. Otilia then meets the abortionist, Dr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov), and discovers that Gabita lied to him, claiming that Gabita herself would meet him and that Otilia was her sister. Dr. Bebe is distressed about the changed hotel and Gabita’s failure to meet him, but ultimately consents to go through with the procedure. Dr. Bebe preaches that with all three facing prison sentences, trust is of the utmost importance.

When they arrive at the new hotel, Dr. Bebe is forced to give the hotel clerk his ID card, angering him further. When they go to the room where Gabita awaits, Gabita admits that she forgot to bring the plastic sheet to cover the bed. Finally, Gabita’s final lie is exposed when Dr. Bebe discovers that Gabita is not less than 3 months pregnant as she claimed, but more than 4 months pregnant. Dr. Bebe noes that the State considers abortion after 3 months murder and the penalties are much stiffer . Accordingly, he threatens to walk out and abandon the women unless they both agree to have sex with them. Ultimately, Gabita and Otilia agree to his demands, and he violates both women. Afterwards, Dr. Bebe performs the procedure, which involves sticking a probe inside Gabita that will eventually induce pregnancy any time between the next hour and several days. Gabita must not move in that time. Otilia is clearly distressed about what happened, but must leave to attend Adi’s mother’s birthday. She promises to call Gabita from Adi’s house.

Otilia arrives late to the party and in no mood to eat the celebratory food. Adi’s family friends mock Gabita’s provincial upbringing and note that at least her college degree will save her from being assigned to work in the countryside where she is from. Privately, tells Adi about Gabita’s abortion (not about the borderline rape), but Adi is completely unsympathetic. Adi is also unable to convincingly state that he would support Otilia if she were to get pregnant. Meanwhile, Otilia is unable to reach Gabita by phone, as Gabita does not answer when called. Eventually, Otilia leaves the party in a way that is disrespectful to the guests, and it seems that her relationship with Adi is damaged beyond repair. She flees back to the hotel, but has forgotten her ID, which arises the staff’s suspicions. It also turns out that Dr. Bebe never picked up his ID (suggesting that the ID was fake and Dr. Bebe had lied to them, despite his preaching that they must all be truthful). Otilia eventually gets into the room to find Gabita in a virtually catatonic state, having given birth to the dead fetus.

Otilia puts the fetus in her purse and leaves the hotel to dispose of the body. After an intense search through the city to find a place to dispose of the body and avoid detection by the authorities, Otilia is able to dump the fetus into a trash chute in a high rise. In doing so, she breaks her promise to Gabita to bury the fetus. Otilia returns to the hotel, and she and Gabita go down to the hotel restaurant. They are seemingly out of the woods. In the background a joyous party is being held at the hotel. Gabita and Otilia sit agree never to speak of the experience again, and then sit silently as the party continues next to them.