This year’s provocative Palme d’Or winner deserves to be a major Oscar contender.

Key Points:

• Romanian director Cristian Mungiu’s latest film, Fjord, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, explores the clash of cultural values following immigration through the story of the Gheorghiu family, Christian fundamentalists who move from Romania to a remote Norwegian village.
• The film portrays the family’s strict faith-based lifestyle and the ensuing conflict when their children are placed in foster care due to suspicions of abuse, highlighting tensions between conservative parenting and secular child welfare laws.
• Sebastian Stan delivers a compelling performance as Mihai Gheorghiu, a proud and resolute father, while Renate Reinsve portrays Lisbet, a devout mother facing the unraveling of her family with quiet strength.
• Fjord’s narrative refrains from guiding viewers toward a definitive moral stance, instead presenting the complex and often unbridgeable divide between secular and religious value systems in modern democracies.
• The film’s deliberate pacing and naturalistic style immerse the audience in a nuanced exploration of faith, family, and societal pressures, leaving viewers to grapple with its ambiguous and thought-provoking conclusion.