Graduation (Bacalaureat) (2017)
90%RT Audience Score: 83%
Awards & Nominations: NA
Graduation marks yet another well-written and powerfully acted look at morality and societal decay from writer-director Cristian Mungiu.
Graduation” is a movie that will make you feel like you’re watching paint dry, but in a good way. The slow burn of the story and the naturalistic performances will have you invested in the characters before you even realize it. And just when you think nothing is happening, everything is happening. It’s a morally ambiguous tale of corruption and complex decisions that will leave you with more questions than answers, but isn’t that what life is all about? Plus, the cinematography is pretty darn good.
Production Company(ies)
Mandeville Films, Walt Disney Pictures,
Distributor
IFC Films
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
La Cañada High School – 4463 Oak Grove Dr, La Cañada Flintridge, California, USA
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1981
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Mono
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:2h 8m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Apr 7, 2017 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 4, 2017
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
Graduation, Romanian, drama, Cristian Mungiu, Adrian Titieni, Maria-Victoria Dragus, Rares Andrici, Lia Bugnar, Malina Manovici, Vlad Ivanov, produced by Cristian Mungiu, written by Cristian Mungiu, morality, societal decay, corruption, dictatorship, scholarship, British university, R rating, box office gross, IFC Films, stereo sound, surround sound, critic reviews, David Stratton, Kate Taylor, Peter Howell, Ty Burr, Sara Michelle Fetters, Michael Sragow, Dustin Chang, Richard Propes, Cate Marquis, Nick Evan-Cook, Michael McNeely, Joel Mayward, audience reviews, naturalistic style, long takes, no score, Romanian society, exasperating incidents, honest man, methodical man
Worldwide gross: NA
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): NA
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Maria-Victoria Dragus – Eliza
Rares Andrici – Marius
Lia Bugnar – Magda
Malina Manovici – Sandra
Vlad Ivanov – Chief Inspector
Director(s)
Cristian Mungiu
Writer(s)
Cristian Mungiu
Producer(s)
Cristian Mungiu
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (139) | Top Critics (48) | Fresh (132) | Rotten (7)
By shining a spotlight on the everyday corruption and dirty dealing, Mungiu enables us to understand just why his homeland is struggling to escape from the weight of the dictatorship that ruined it and betrayed its people for so many years.
June 9, 2017 | Rating: 4/5
David Stratton
The Australian
TOP CRITIC
The cinematography, the dialogue and the performances, especially Adrian Titieni’s as an earnest and anxious Mr. Fix-It, are impressively naturalistic.
June 2, 2017 | Rating: 3/4
Kate Taylor
Globe and Mail
TOP CRITIC
It’s … insistent that life is a series of complex decisions, with fate intruding, and the path’s never clear.
June 1, 2017 | Rating: 3.5/4
Peter Howell
Toronto Star
TOP CRITIC
It feels like nothing’s happening until you realize everything is, right before your eyes.
June 1, 2017 | Rating: 3.5/4
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
TOP CRITIC
[Graduation] is a masterfully composed effort that is instantly fascinating, moving towards its emotionally hushed conclusion with breathless, if still unhurried, intensity.
May 12, 2017 | Rating: 4/4
Sara Michelle Fetters
MovieFreak.com
TOP CRITIC
Mastering a movie equivalent of a detached first-person point of view, Mungiu unearths hidden depths in the supporting characters while creating a three-dimensional portrait of Romeo as a man who no longer lives in quiet desperation.
May 5, 2017
Michael Sragow
Film Comment Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Bacalaureat draws Romeo’s dilemma as a father, as a man, as a Romanian really well. It’s an amazingly scripted film that contains all the nuances of the sticky human existence.
February 14, 2021
Dustin Chang
Floating World
A remarkable film.
September 9, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4.0
Richard Propes
TheIndependentCritic.com
For those with the patience, GRADUATION does have something to say.
May 1, 2019
Cate Marquis
We Are Movie Geeks
An intelligent, elegant, morally ambiguous, and quite frankly brilliant tale of corruption and questioning whether it can ever be justified.
March 5, 2019 | Rating: 5/5
Nick Evan-Cook
One Room With A View
The times in which emotion breaks through (as it certainly did in 4 months) are the times you should be sure you are paying attention.
February 21, 2019
Michael McNeely
The Hindu Business Line
Graduation resists easy resolutions or satisfying conclusions. It’s a cinematic moral conundrum, raising numerous questions and answering very few of them.
November 13, 2018 | Rating: 4.5/5
Joel Mayward
Cinemayward…
Plot
After a high school track runner, named Laura, suddenly dies from a heart attack after finishing a 30-second 200-meter race, a killer wearing a sweat suit and a fencing mask begins killing off her friends on the school track team one by one. The suspects include the track coach Michaels, Laura’s sister Anne who arrives in town for the funeral, the creepy school principal Mr. Guglione, and Laura’s strange boyfriend Kevin.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
NA
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