# Kontinental '25
**Kontinental '25** is a 2025 Romanian comedy-drama film written and directed by Radu Jude, in which Orsolya, a court bailiff in Cluj, Transylvania, oversees the eviction of a homeless man from a cellar and spirals into a moral crisis after he takes his own life. The film premiered in competition at the 75th [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival) on February 19, 2025, where it won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay.[1](https://www.berlinale.de/en/press/press-material/presskit-download-action.html?file=Wettbewerb%2FAlle_Filme%2F202508071_en_1_Kontinental_25.pdf) • [2](https://www.iffigoa.org/public/pdfs/catalogue/Catalogue.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | Radu Jude (born 1977, Bucharest), whose *Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn* won the Golden Bear at the 2021 Berlinale[3](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/75/46291-kontinental25) |
| Awards | Silver Bear for Best Screenplay, Berlin International Film Festival 2025; also nominated for Best Film there[2](https://www.iffigoa.org/public/pdfs/catalogue/Catalogue.pdf) • [4](https://media.fetch.fm/media/uploads/press-releases/2025/09/11/10/28/Kontinental_25_-_Press_Release.pdf) |
| Production | Shot on an iPhone 15 in about ten days, with no lights or grip equipment, immediately after wrapping Jude's *Dracula*[5](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/09/24/kontinental-25-en-roumanie-les-tourments-d-une-huissiere-deboussolee_6642738_3246.html) • [6](https://www.hammertonail.com/interviews/radu-jude-kontinental-25/) |
| Runtime and languages | 109 minutes; Romanian, Hungarian, and German[1](https://www.berlinale.de/en/press/press-material/presskit-download-action.html?file=Wettbewerb%2FAlle_Filme%2F202508071_en_1_Kontinental_25.pdf) |
| Lead cast | Eszter Tompa as Orsolya; Gabriel Spahiu as Ion, the homeless man[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/feb/19/kontinental-25-review-scattergun-satire-on-a-tour-of-romanias-social-ills) |
| Critical reception | 92% on Rotten Tomatoes from 66 reviews; Metascore 78 from 14 reviews[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kontinental_25) • [9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/kontinental-25/) |
| Co-production | Saga Film (Romania) with RT Features (Brazil), Bord Cadre Films (Switzerland), Sovereign Films (UK), and Paul Thiltges Distributions (Luxembourg)[3](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/75/46291-kontinental25) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and characters
The film opens by following Ion (Gabriel Spahiu), a former athlete who has subsisted for years as a vagrant in Cluj, collecting litter and panhandling.[10](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/474109/) He squats in the basement of an apartment building bought by a property firm that intends to raze it and build a luxury boutique hotel called the Kontinental, which gives the film its title.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/feb/19/kontinental-25-review-scattergun-satire-on-a-tour-of-romanias-social-ills) Orsolya (Eszter Tompa), a bailiff and former law professor who specialized in [Roman law](https://www.edgepedia.org/roman-law), arrives with gendarmes to enforce the eviction; given half an hour to leave, Ion uses the reprieve to hang himself.[5](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/09/24/kontinental-25-en-roumanie-les-tourments-d-une-huissiere-deboussolee_6642738_3246.html)
**The crisis.** Even though the law clears Orsolya of any guilt, this devout woman, guided by a firm moral conscience, believes she shares responsibility for a tragedy that could have been avoided.[11](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2026-04-03/kontinental-25-review-radu-jude-romania) She refuses a booked family holiday and instead traverses the city in a series of two-person dialogue scenes, recounting the suicide to her husband, an old friend, her mother, a former law student now working as a food-delivery cyclist, and a priest, seeking understanding or absolution.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/feb/19/kontinental-25-review-scattergun-satire-on-a-tour-of-romanias-social-ills) • [5](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/09/24/kontinental-25-en-roumanie-les-tourments-d-une-huissiere-deboussolee_6642738_3246.html) None of her interlocutors can offer an easy answer; the priest tells her that suicide is a sin for which the individual alone is responsible, and her elderly mother steers the conversation to admiration for [Viktor Orbán](https://www.edgepedia.org/viktor-orban)'s Hungary before throwing her out.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/feb/19/kontinental-25-review-scattergun-satire-on-a-tour-of-romanias-social-ills)
Orsolya's ethnic Hungarian identity becomes an aggravating circumstance on social media, where the drama is seized upon, since Ion turns out to have been a Romanian former Olympic athlete.[5](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/09/24/kontinental-25-en-roumanie-les-tourments-d-une-huissiere-deboussolee_6642738_3246.html) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/feb/19/kontinental-25-review-scattergun-satire-on-a-tour-of-romanias-social-ills) The film closes with a montage juxtaposing seedy public housing with gated private estates.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/feb/19/kontinental-25-review-scattergun-satire-on-a-tour-of-romanias-social-ills)
## Themes
Jude presents contemporary Cluj as what the Cineuropa review calls a median example of today's Europe overall.[10](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/474109/) The film takes aim at gentrification and real estate speculation, corruption mixed with corporate greed, nationalism and racism, religious hypocrisy, and the legacy of Romania's post-socialist economy.[9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/kontinental-25/) • [12](https://nextbestpicture.com/kontinental-25/) • [6](https://www.hammertonail.com/interviews/radu-jude-kontinental-25/) Jude said in interviews that he teaches in Cluj once a month and watched the city become the richest in Romania, with rents approaching London levels, extensive gentrification, and what he described as urbanistic and demographic chaos.[6](https://www.hammertonail.com/interviews/radu-jude-kontinental-25/)
The film frames guilt itself as a subject of inquiry: Orsolya repeats her account of the suicide to each listener, and the [El País](https://www.edgepedia.org/el-pais) review reads the film as asking whether guilt is one more trap that lets people keep pedaling within the system, a question underscored by a scene in which Orsolya and a friend quote [Bertolt Brecht](https://www.edgepedia.org/bertolt-brecht)'s remark about Stalin's purges, "the more innocent they are, the more they deserve to die".[13](https://elpais.com/cultura/cine/2025-12-12/kontinental-25-el-cine-antisistema-de-radu-jude-representa-la-hipocresia-de-este-mundo.html)
## Origins and production
The project began as a small news item Jude read around 2011: a bailiff burst into tears on camera after an eviction she carried out led to a suicide, in the real case an old woman, and those around her tried to comfort her rather than accuse her. The story stayed with him through several false starts.[6](https://www.hammertonail.com/interviews/radu-jude-kontinental-25/) The project came together when Cluj's real estate development, a rewatching of Rossellini's *Europa '51*, and the casting of Eszter Tompa converged; everything was prepared, written, and shot in two and a half months.[6](https://www.hammertonail.com/interviews/radu-jude-kontinental-25/)
**The Rossellini homage.** The title, poster artwork, and plot outline pay homage to [Roberto Rossellini](https://www.edgepedia.org/roberto-rossellini)'s *Europa '51* (1952), in which [Ingrid Bergman](https://www.edgepedia.org/ingrid-bergman) plays a woman thrown into soul-searching moral crisis by a tragic death; a poster for the earlier film appears in a scene in which Orsolya drinks in a cinema bar.[14](https://thefilmverdict.com/kontinental-25/) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/feb/19/kontinental-25-review-scattergun-satire-on-a-tour-of-romanias-social-ills) Jude called his film, in his own words, a kind of caricature of Rossellini's masterpiece, not in a parodic sense, and noted that Rossellini edited his films at speed, a quality Jude identified with.[15](https://www.news.ro/entertainment/interviu-radu-jude-prezinta-kontinental-25-la-tiff-filmul-meu-e-un-film-despre-o-crima-nu-una-vizibila-foto-video-1922400518002025060922070874) • [16](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/02/19/a-la-berlinale-2025-des-meres-indignes-au-bord-de-la-crise-de-nerfs_6554559_3246.html)
The iPhone 15 shoot took ten days with a small crew, no lights or grip equipment, and the same crew and several of the same actors as Jude's *Dracula*, which was filmed immediately before.[6](https://www.hammertonail.com/interviews/radu-jude-kontinental-25/) • [17](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/sebastian-stan-starring-wild-new-movie-frankenstein-in-romania) Jude described the mobile-phone method as recovering a primitivism of the Lumière brothers, a frontal staging that puts the viewer directly in contact with things.[16](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/02/19/a-la-berlinale-2025-des-meres-indignes-au-bord-de-la-crise-de-nerfs_6554559_3246.html)
## Reception
At the Berlinale, the film scored a 3.1 average on the Screen International critics jury grid, second among competition titles behind Gabriel Mascaro's *[The Blue Trail](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-blue-trail)* at 3.4, with three four-star ratings, four three-star ratings, and two two-star ratings.[18](https://www.screendaily.com/news/kontinental-25-makes-strong-debut-on-berlin-jury-grid-decent-showing-for-dreams-sex-love/5202295.article) It went on to win the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay, while the [Golden Bear](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-bear) that year went to Dag Johan Haugerud's *[Dreams](https://www.edgepedia.org/dreams-sex-love) (Sex Love)*.[2](https://www.iffigoa.org/public/pdfs/catalogue/Catalogue.pdf) • [19](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/02/23/berlinale-2025-le-norvegien-dag-johan-haugerud-remporte-l-ours-d-or-pour-dreams-sex-love_6560382_3246.html)
Critics singled out Tompa's performance. Rotten Tomatoes' critics consensus describes the film as anchored by a standout performance from Eszter Tompa, with Jude infusing his caustic brand of satire with warm humor and subtle drama; the site reports 92% from 66 reviews.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kontinental_25) Metacritic assigns a Metascore of 78, generally favorable, based on 14 critic reviews.[9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/kontinental-25/) Some reviewers noted the film's deliberately slow pacing and extended conversations; the Chicago Reader found little forward momentum after the central event but called the result a searing, often hilarious look at Orsolya's guilt.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kontinental_25)
**Release.** The film was distributed in the United States by 1-2 Special, with a limited theatrical release on March 27, 2026, and streaming on May 26, 2026; its US gross was $41.9K.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kontinental_25) In the United Kingdom and Ireland it opened in cinemas on October 31, 2025.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/feb/19/kontinental-25-review-scattergun-satire-on-a-tour-of-romanias-social-ills)
## References
1. [Berlinale press kit: Kontinental '25, a film by Radu Jude](https://www.berlinale.de/en/press/press-material/presskit-download-action.html?file=Wettbewerb%2FAlle_Filme%2F202508071_en_1_Kontinental_25.pdf)
2. [IFFI Goa catalogue: Kontinental '25](https://www.iffigoa.org/public/pdfs/catalogue/Catalogue.pdf)
3. [KVIFF programme: Kontinental '25](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/75/46291-kontinental25)
4. [Kontinental 25 press release, Sovereign/Fetch](https://media.fetch.fm/media/uploads/press-releases/2025/09/11/10/28/Kontinental_25_-_Press_Release.pdf)
5. [Le Monde: « Kontinental '25 » : en Roumanie, les tourments d'une huissière déboussolée](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/09/24/kontinental-25-en-roumanie-les-tourments-d-une-huissiere-deboussolee_6642738_3246.html)
6. [Hammer to Nail: A Conversation with Radu Jude (KONTINENTAL '25)](https://www.hammertonail.com/interviews/radu-jude-kontinental-25/)
7. [The Guardian: Kontinental '25 review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/feb/19/kontinental-25-review-scattergun-satire-on-a-tour-of-romanias-social-ills)
8. [Rotten Tomatoes: Kontinental '25](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kontinental_25)
9. [Metacritic: Kontinental '25](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/kontinental-25/)
10. [Cineuropa: Review: Kontinental '25](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/474109/)
11. [Los Angeles Times: 'Kontinental '25' review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2026-04-03/kontinental-25-review-radu-jude-romania)
12. [Next Best Picture: KONTINENTAL '25 review](https://nextbestpicture.com/kontinental-25/)
13. [El País: 'Kontinental '25': el cine antisistema de Radu Jude](https://elpais.com/cultura/cine/2025-12-12/kontinental-25-el-cine-antisistema-de-radu-jude-representa-la-hipocresia-de-este-mundo.html)
14. [The Film Verdict: Kontinental '25](https://thefilmverdict.com/kontinental-25/)
15. [News.ro: Interviu Radu Jude, Kontinental 25 la TIFF](https://www.news.ro/entertainment/interviu-radu-jude-prezinta-kontinental-25-la-tiff-filmul-meu-e-un-film-despre-o-crima-nu-una-vizibila-foto-video-1922400518002025060922070874)
16. [Le Monde: À la Berlinale 2025, des mères indignes au bord de la crise de nerfs](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/02/19/a-la-berlinale-2025-des-meres-indignes-au-bord-de-la-crise-de-nerfs_6554559_3246.html)
17. [CinemaBlend: Sebastian Stan in Jude's Frankenstein](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/sebastian-stan-starring-wild-new-movie-frankenstein-in-romania)
18. [Screen Daily: Kontinental '25 makes strong debut on Berlin jury grid](https://www.screendaily.com/news/kontinental-25-makes-strong-debut-on-berlin-jury-grid-decent-showing-for-dreams-sex-love/5202295.article)
19. [Le Monde: Berlinale 2025, Dreams (Sex Love) remporte l'Ours d'or](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2025/02/23/berlinale-2025-le-norvegien-dag-johan-haugerud-remporte-l-ours-d-or-pour-dreams-sex-love_6560382_3246.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 1995 to 1999 › Black and satirical comedies*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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