Un Suris In Plina Vara -1964- - De Geo Saizescu... May 2026

Nevertheless, Un surâs în plină vară endures because it captures a universal feeling: the memory of a season when we pretended to be someone slightly better than ourselves, and for a brief moment, we almost believed it. Geo Saizescu directs with a light touch, never letting the philosophical weight sink the buoyant charm. The film is a smile itself—ephemeral, warm, and unexpectedly profound. It reminds us that in the fullness of summer, even a lie can feel like the truth, and a single smile can be a story worth telling. For lovers of classic cinema, and for anyone who has ever fallen in love on vacation, this Romanian gem remains a pure, radiant delight.

The film’s true protagonist, however, might be the summer itself. The season is a catalyst for transformation. Under the relentless sun, inhibitions melt. The film captures a specific existential truth: summer romances are potent precisely because they are temporary. The pressure of an impending autumn return to the city lends every glance and touch a heightened urgency. Corina, played with intelligent vulnerability by Irina Petrescu, is no simple country girl waiting to be seduced. She senses the lie but is intrigued by the performance. Her smile—the film’s central image—is not one of naive happiness but of knowing complicity. She smiles because she sees the game, and she chooses to play it, at least for the season. UN SURIS IN PLINA VARA -1964- - de Geo Saizescu...

If the film has a weakness, it is its occasional reliance on broad physical humor that dates it to its era. Some of the secondary characters—the jealous suitor, the nosy old woman—veer toward caricature. Moreover, the resolution, which ties up the romantic complications with a neat bow, feels slightly rushed, sacrificing some of the bittersweet ambiguity the summer setting promised. One wonders what Saizescu might have achieved with a slightly sharper edge, a hint of the melancholy that shadows all sun-drenched idylls. Nevertheless, Un surâs în plină vară endures because

Visually, Saizescu and cinematographer Aurel Kostrakiewicz bathe the film in a luminous, almost Mediterranean light. The title promises a smile, and the screen delivers a near-constant radiance. The Danube Delta is not just a backdrop but an active participant: a lush, lazy labyrinth of reed beds and still waters that seems to exist outside of time. This setting creates a hothouse atmosphere where emotions intensify and social rules loosen. The city dwellers, stiff in their formal wear, are gradually undone by the humidity, the slow pace, and the earthy directness of the villagers. Saizescu contrasts the artificiality of Bucharest’s intellectual salons with the visceral reality of the Delta—where fish are caught, wine is poured, and a smile is worth more than a theater review. It reminds us that in the fullness of

Critically, Un surâs în plină vară belongs to a specific subgenre that scholar Dina Iordanova might call “pastoral modernism.” It looks back at traditional village life with fondness but without idealizing it. The locals are not noble savages; they are pragmatic, gossipy, and sharp. They see through the city slickers’ pretensions instantly. This creates a gentle class comedy where the sophisticated are, in fact, the simpler ones. Radu’s elaborate deceptions are clumsy compared to the villagers’ quiet, observant wisdom. In this sense, the film is a quiet critique of the urban intelligentsia’s tendency to dramatize ordinary life, while the “simple” people simply live it.