Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn

Shot during a COVID lockdown, Romanian auteur Rade Jude’s rude, irreverent and timely satire sees an intimate act spark communal outrage.

Emilia (an excellent Katia Pascariu), a teacher at a respected secondary school, has made a sex tape with her husband Eugen (Stefan Steel) in the privacy of their own home. No problem with that. It’s only when Eugen takes his laptop – with the film on it – to be repaired and the footage makes its way online that things get difficult. School administrators are outraged, parents are shocked, pillars of the community demand actions and Emilia finds herself edging closer to a breakdown. On top of that, the increasing number of rules regarding social distancing as a result of COVID-19 are sending everyone a little loopy.

Jude’s film, a stunning satire that ranks alongside his earlier The Happiest Girl in the World, Aferim! and I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians, highlights the hypocrisies of moral outrage in modern society. Through the observations of cinematographer Marius Panduru’s glacially distanced camera, we witness everyday examples of neglect and petty cruelty. Yet a woman who unwillingly had her personal life uploaded for all to see is vilified like a Salem witch. Jude’s film conveys the double standards with brisk efficiency. But his comments about society and his embrace of the challenges of COVID never weigh the film down. This is Luis Buñuel shot in the style of Billy Wilder.