The best Șerban Pavlu’s movies

In a small village of Communist-era Romania a young couple wish to marry, but Joseph Stalin dies the night prior to their wedding ceremony forcing the bride and groom to marry in silence.

3 men from a provincial town who are in an urgent need for money so they decide to buy a lottery ticket. They win the lottery, but very soon, the ticket gets stolen.

Mr. Lazarescu is a retired Romanian engineer, spending his time in the company of his cats and booze. When he starts feeling unusually ill, he first seeks painkillers from his neighbors. It soon becomes apparent that Lazarescu is indeed sick, and an ambulance arrives with a nurse who has a few ideas about what could be the problem. However, a major traffic accident and poor organization leaves little room in Romanian hospitals for the fading Lazarescu.

Set in early 19th century Wallachia, Romania, a policeman, Costandin, is hired by a nobleman to find a Gypsy slave who has run away from his estate after having an affair with his wife.

"I do not care if we go down in history as barbarians." These words, spoken in the Council of Ministers of the summer of 1941, started the ethnic cleansing on the Eastern Front. The film attempts to comment on this statement.

Mitu and Elena get to know each other in the course of a vodka drinking contest and discover that they are both dissatisfied with the status quo. Mitu is about to begin military service and Elena is to be married to a man she does not love. They decide they are meant for each other and plan on a different future, one that is on a collision course with the authorities, and start a mad affair.

When a flood strikes Costache's village in Romania, his wife Maria and all of their possessions are swept away. Now in a village shelter, Costache refuses to sell his land and move onward. He has plans to re-build and refuses help and advice from his neighbors. The village is all he has left, except for an estranged son now living in Tokyo. But when his son Ticu hears of his mother's death and father's plight, he arrives unexpectedly with his Japanese wife and son to bring Costache back home with him. This will not be simple. Ticu fled Romania with many issues left unresolved, the biggest being his relationship with his father. Now there is a whole new family for Costache to deal with, old scores to settle, and painful goodbyes to say.

One girl. One car. One night. No coincidence.

At the Bucharest Circus, the new young manager is trying to solve the major financial issues of the company by selling its only bear (old and about to die soon) to German hunters. But the artists do not want to sacrifice their favorite animal so the manager decides to steal the bear and run to the mountains to meet the Germans. A crazy road movie starts following the bear.

A couple of weeks after his wife Ioana dies in a car crash, drunk and alone on the night he turns 42, Alexandru receives a visit. Sebastian, a shy, younger man, has been Ioana's lover for the past five months. Sebastian has an outrageous request: he wants Alexandru to help him overcome the despair caused by Ioana's death.

In 1981, chalk slogans written in uppercase letters started appearing in public spaces in the Romanian city of Botoşani. They demanded freedom, alluded to the democratic developments taking place in Romania’s socialist sister countries or simply called for improvements in the food supply. Mugur Călinescu was behind them, who was still at school at the time and whose case is documented in the files of the Romanian secret police. Theatre director Gianina Cărbunariu created a documentary play based on this material.

One night, just before the holidays, in an empty park, two small-time thugs hold up a strange looking man. Where's the Christmas spirit?

Delia, a young Romanian girl, comes to Bucharest with her parents to collect a prize she has won in a contest organized by a soft-drinks company. The prize is a beautiful new car. All Delia has to do now is appear in front of the camera in a commercial. All goes well until it becomes clear that Delia and her parents have very different ideas about what to do with the new car. Meanwhile, the contest's sponsor needs a radiant prize-winner with a gleaming smile. A wicked satire and a psychological portrait of a society perverted by its slavery to capitalism and consumerism

Three men go into a pub. The first man has too many questions. The second man has the perfect plan. The third man has no chance.

In this very black comedy about ill-suited neighbors united by marriage, Niki is a former colonel in the Romanian army whose daughter is married to the son of Flo, an aging Bohemian who is full of schemes for the “new” Romania. As the young couple prepares to emigrate to the U.S., Niki is obliged to interact with Flo, whom he finds totally unbearable.

Marius is a divorced man in his late thirties. His five year-old daughter Sofia lives with her mother, which causes Marius a deep frustration. On the day Marius arrives to take his daughter on their annual holiday, he is told that she is ill but he doesn't believe it and insists to take her with him. The situation soon gets out of control with all the family taking part in a web of humor, violence, childish songs, police interventions and love statements.

A long time married couple comes to decide within 24 hours, through encounters with strangers, that letting go might be their biggest proof of love.

After the suspicious death of his best friend Nic, Stefan, a fifty-year-old businessman, uncovers the unknown part of their relationship and has to come to terms with his new life.

Tavi, a forty-year-old divorced father, comes to his ex-wife's home to repair his four-year-old daughter's bike. He realizes with amazement that Alexandra does not call him "Daddy" any more. He asks an explanation from his ex-wife...

Seven months after their divorce, Ducu pays Maria one last visit...