Writers: Miruna Berescu and Emanuel Parvu
Director: Emanuel Parvu
It’s a familiar story. A young man gets beaten up in his home town. When the police are involved, the young man’s sexuality is disclosed to the parents, who then punish their son for being gay. The young man has no choice but to flee to the city. Perhaps the most famous version of this story was presented by Bronski Beat in their video for Smalltown Boy, the song’s haunting refrain “run away” accompanying Jimmy Somerville’s character as he gets “pushed around and kicked around”. That this old story is still being played out demonstrates that gay liberation still has a battle to fight.
Smalltown Boy was released in 1984. Three Kilometres to the End of the World is set in present-day Romania within an island community. 17-year-old Adi has come home from boarding school for the summer. He meets a male Romanian tourist one evening. After saying goodbye, Adi is jumped on by the sons of the local gangster. He returns to his parents’ house, covered in bruises.
Many of director Emanuel Parvu’s shots are filmed with a static camera. Actors must walk into range, but Parvu doesn’t care if heads are cut off or if actors wander right to the edge of the frame. These compact shots add to the claustrophobia of a town where everyone knows each other and where there is no escape from such traditional values that dictate a queer son will bring disgrace to his whole family, perhaps even the town itself. Outdoor scenes are also often shot with a static camera or one that moves very slowly. Behind the actors, straight roads or paths stretch out into the distance, leading lines that gesture both to the ‘straight and narrow’ island society and to a means of escape, if only Adi had the courage to take it.
We watch Adi being examined by a doctor while his parents and two policemen are in the same room, underlining the lack of privacy such a closed society can have. Everyone has something to say about his case, but Adi remains silent. Indeed, he says little throughout the whole film. It doesn’t matter what he thinks, as his parents, the police and the local priest will do what they judge is right, by force if they need to.
Ciprian Chiujdea gives Adi a vulnerability that is sometimes hard to watch, especially as his swollen eyes seem so realistic. In the latter part of the film, Adi looks at his face in the mirror. Does he now resemble the monster that his mother believes he has become or harbour a devil that requires an exorcist? It’s frightening to realise that this kind of homophobia still exists within Europe.
Three Kilometres to the End of the World focuses more on Adi’s father (Bogdan Dumitrache, who trudges around the town looking for justice. Even when he discovers that his son is gay, the father still wants the two attackers arrested. Deals are brokered and refused, and do-gooding officials from the mainland are sent back as quickly as possible. The town on the Delta Danube will handle such crimes itself. Only Ilinca (Ingrid Berescu) is on Adi’s side.
Winner of this year’s Queer Palm at Cannes, Parvu’s slow and studied film is always beautiful to look at, such a contrast to the ugly actions of the townspeople. It’s a shame that the blare of pop music as the credits roll takes the audience out of this film too abruptly. Silence may have been a more effective choice for the bittersweet ending.
Three Kilometres to the End of the World is screening at the BFI London Film Festival 2024.
