Renate Reinsve On Making Cristian Mungiu’s Cannes Winner ‘Fjord’: “I Knew I Was Going Into A Completely Different World” — SkimNews
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- Fjord won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, Cristian Mungiu’s second, and Romania selected it as its Best International Feature Film entry for the Oscars.
- Renate Reinsve said she felt an “overwhelming” connection to Lisbet—a mother whose five children are taken into state care—after Mungiu first invited her to read the liberal-minded neighbor Mia; Reinsve also cited her own experience as a mother.
- Cristian Mungiu kept the camera “really far away” and sought to remove manipulation, leaving Reinsve to make Lisbet’s suffering specific without judging her or dictating how the audience should feel.
- Mungiu built the 12-minute scene in which Lisbet is told her children will be taken away over 20 takes—Reinsve’s first three followed by 17 more—as the image’s movement and poetry developed incrementally.
- Reinsve spent six months combined on research and shooting, observing Pentecostal services, singing, food and greetings while seeking compassion for values she does not share; she said she still felt she had not learned enough.
- Renate Reinsve won Cannes best actress in 2021 for Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, then received an Oscar supporting-actress nomination for Sentimental Value before playing Lisbet in Fjord.
Why it matters: For Romania’s Best International Feature campaign, Fjord’s case extends beyond Cristian Mungiu’s second Palme d’Or: Reinsve spent six months on combined research and filming, including Pentecostal life, and performed Lisbet across Mungiu’s 20 takes of the 12-minute child-removal scene. The result addresses faith, parenthood and state authority without dictating judgment.
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