Geared more for the home crowd with a good knowledge of their own history, this Romanian political comedy takes place at the turn of the 20th century, when two opposing factions are going at each other tooth and nail to win an election. One candidate is a staunch if not deluded conservative and the other is a radical liberal. Anticipating modern election campaigns by a good half a century, the two candidates decide that the best way to win is to sling as much mud as possible. Lacking the Internet and fifteen-second TV spots, they do the best they can -- they send each other virulent telegrams denouncing each other's personal failings.
This movie is a screen adaptation of the eponymous play by Horia Lovinescu. It follows a "bourgeois" family as it copes with the emerging communist regime. Different members of the family take different paths.
The plot take place in 1883 in a small provincial town in Romania, where the corrupt establishment decide everything, including - of course - who will be the "elected" representative to the national Senate. A love letter from the bachelor mayor to the wife of the local party chief, gets lost and found by a drunk party supporter. The letter finds its way to the opposition party, which decide to use the letter by blackmailing the powerful local "camarilla", and to get his own man to represent the county. What follows is not easy to guess....
