ENESCU - Flayed Alive
a film by Toma Enache
30 January 2025, 18:00
Cinema Unirea Botosani
𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐔𝟕𝟎
Starting January 2025, we begin a series of special screenings that pay tribute to 70 years since the passing of our genius composer, George Enescu. The series of special screenings with the first feature film dedicated to him begins on January 25 at the Romanian Athenaeum and will continue throughout the country and the world throughout 2025!
"Enescu – Flayed Alive" tells the extraordinary and tumultuous journey of one of the greatest Romanian composers and violinists, George Enescu. The film explores his inner world, revealing not only his immense talent but also the intense personal battles he fought throughout his life. At the heart of the story is his passionate and often heartbreaking love with Princess Maruca Cantacuzino, a relationship that shaped his destiny and the course of his music. Through sensitive and profound direction, Toma Enache presents an emotional exploration of the soul of a genius, in a film that combines music, history, and personal drama.
Director Toma Enache emphasizes in an interview for the London Director Awards: "Few musicians in history have been so unanimously acclaimed as George Enescu. The great cellist Pablo Casals described him as "the greatest musical phenomenon since Mozart," and for Yehudi Menuhin, his student, he was "one of the wonders of the world."
Our film is for all those who love music, love stories, and for those who admire people dedicated to their talent, sacrificing themselves to leave something great behind. In fact, this is also what the opera Oedipus, the magnum opus of George Enescu, is about."
"Nineteenth-century literature brought us various examples of 'Romantic Love in the Feminine,' but the history of everyday life also tells us the other side of the coin. In the simplest cases, the presence of the 'masculine' was inevitable, at least for the narratives of the time (today we would also talk about other relational dimensions). In some cases back then, the bilaterality of 'woman-man' in the suffering of love was clear. Consider the love between Heinrich Von Kleist and Henriette Vogel (a married woman who could not leave her husband), which drove the secret lovers to suicide, to the extreme gesture to be able to live eternally the love that was forbidden to them on this earth. In the story of the Romanian musician, despite knowing the princess loved him, George Enescu is the emblem of a 'Romantic Love in the Masculine' that does not fear to show itself in all its sweetness, in all its romance.
Toma Enache makes us experience its sweetness and romance in every moment of the film, directing a perfect cast of actors in each role. Above all, the protagonists are at their best!" — Maestro Nino Graziano Luca, director of Compagnia Nazionale di Danza Storica
The film was scheduled in the official selection and won awards at several profile festivals, including: International Sound & Film Music Festival – ISFMF Croatia; Cyprus International Film Festival – Golden Aphrodyte CYIFF; Five Continents International Film Festival; Rome Prisma Film Awards; Florence Film Awards; Athens International Film Art Festival; Salerno International Film Festival, and others.
Toma Enache, the director of the film "ENESCU, Flayed Alive," was recently awarded the "Premio Cultura" award at the cultural event "Leoni, Gattopardi di Sicilia," held at Palazzo Donà dalle Rose in Venice. This project was created and directed by Nino Graziano Luca, in collaboration with Countess Chiara Modica Donà dalle Rose, under the patronage of the Culture Committee of the Italian House of Representatives and the International Dance Council of UNESCO.
The film benefits from a remarkable cast, featuring Mircea Dragoman as George Enescu and Theodora Sandu as Princess Maruca, alongside well-known actors such as Cezara Dafinescu, Manuela Hărăbor, Adrian Titieni, Cristian Sofron, Kira Hagi, Pavel Ulici, Filip Ristovski, Erica Moldovan, Codrin Dănilă, and the late Constantin Codrescu. The costumes are designed by Italian Stefano Nicolao, famous for his work on Oscar-winning productions, and the music brings together works by George Enescu and original compositions by Sebastian Androne-Nakanishi, named "Composer of the Year 2022" at the International Classical Music Awards.
The soundtrack is performed by the National Orchestra of France, under the baton of Maestro Cristian Măcelaru, artistic director of the George Enescu Festival, and the Romanian National Radio Orchestra, led by Maestro Horia Andreescu. Additionally, violinist Alexandru Tomescu adds a distinct note to this sound production. The soundtrack also features an original music fragment played by George Enescu on the violin and Dinu Lipatti on the piano.
The complete list with the date and location of each premiere is posted on the film's Facebook and Instagram page. Check the list and don't miss your only chance to see the film "Enescu – Flayed Alive" in your city!
About the film:
George Enescu, a brilliant composer and violinist, is at the peak of his career and dreams of composing an opera. He falls in love with Princess Maruca, who inspires and challenges him. Although she loves him passionately, Maruca is bound to her husband and children. Fate releases her from marriage, but will it be enough for them to be happy together? And the opera? Will Enescu ever manage to compose it?
Title: "Enescu – Flayed Alive"
Duration: 120 minutes
Rating 12+
Soundtrack: National Orchestra of France, under the baton of Maestro Cristian Măcelaru, and Romanian National Radio Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Horia Andreescu
Director: Toma Enache
Producers: Marta Maria Mocanu, Elena Enache
Release Date: 2 November 2024
FILM REVIEW/ Review film
ENESCU, Flayed Alive
Critic Gustavo Coletti for Times of Cinema:
"When I finished watching 'ENESCU, Flayed Alive' I immediately looked up the biography, not of Enescu, but of director Toma Enache, because I was surprised by the quality of the film. I think I finally understood George Enescu after watching the two-hour film. Toma Enache has directed four feature films since 2013 and has staged many plays in Bucharest. He has always been appreciated for the quality of his projects.
The film's credits are visually fascinating, with statues disintegrating as representations of an impending tragedy. I had access to Enescu through the director: a brilliant violinist and composer, planning to compose an opera, in love with a married princess who is also a mother. A true story, very close to fiction.
I greatly enjoyed the recreation of a fascinating era, as we are talking about the early years of the 20th century, especially in Romania. Attention to detail in terms of costumes and set design does not go unnoticed, and the most intense moments generate an eclectic vibe between cinema and theater, with the brilliance of explosions, sometimes appearing supernatural.
It is hard to find in modern cinema so much respect for the spirit of classic narratives. The style and atmosphere of the film remind us of the great masters of Italian or German cinema. Toma Enache does not compromise in his quest for excellence."
ATHENS INTERNATIONAL FILM ART FESTIVAL
"ENESCU, Flayed Alive" is a triumph not just as a period piece or a biographical film but also as a philosophical exploration of the human condition. It tackles eternal questions of love, creativity, and meaning with grace and depth, inviting the audience to reflect on the challenges of genius and the sacrifices that the desire for perfection entails.
As George Enescu himself said, "The artist reveals to humanity the path to harmony, which is happiness and peace." Toma Enache's film does just that - through its beauty, depth, and emotional tribute to an artist who lived and loved passionately, reminding us all of the power of art to illuminate the path to harmony in both life and love."
ROME INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL — PRISMA
"Like the notes of a symphony, each moment in Enescu's life intertwines with nuances, pauses, and tones that surpass a mere melody. Between one note and another, in the silent and profound space between them — the interval, the unspoken chord — there is a vast range of hidden emotions and meanings that give shape and substance to his soul. Just as a symphony is made not only of notes but also of the distances that separate them, Enescu's existence builds itself between the shadows of his loves, his losses, and his endless pursuit of beauty and truth."
"Enescu, Flayed Alive" is more than just a film or a concert: it is an EXPERIENCE you must live. (Emil Călinescu, CINEMIL)
"Between Enescu's life and art, there was no frontier. And Toma Enache captures exactly this invisible (non-)boundary!
Since "Man of God," I haven't seen people in an entire audience mute at the end, reading the credits in silence for minutes on end, without anyone daring to break even with the applause due to a gala...
It was as if we had also died with Enescu, this man flayed alive in life, alive among us in death!" (Floriana Jucan - Q Magazine)
#EnescuFlayedAlive #TomaEnache #RomanianFilm #Cinema #GeorgeEnescu
#ClassicalMusic #IndependentFilm
We look forward to your meeting with ENESCU!
For additional details about the above event, please contact the organizing entity: ,Asociatia C.L.A. La Steaua, CIF ,12708800 BUCURESTI
