Winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale, Child's Pose is a riveting drama that centres on a mother's twisted affection for her son, and the repercussions of her actions when his well-being is placed in jeopardy. 60-year-old Cornelia (the phenomenal Luminita Gheorghiu) leads a life of privilege, social power and abundant wealth in contemporary Bucharest, but life is not perfect. More than anything in the world, she longs for her 34-year-old son Barbu (Bogdan Dumitrache) to reciprocate her affections. But the pair barely speak, something the domineering Cornelia blames on Barbu's live-in girlfriend. When Barbu is involved in a tragic car accident and runs down a child on a highway, Cornelia is thrust back into his life. Seeing her chance to regain control, she commences a frighteningly well-orchestrated campaign to save her son from prison. But Barbu, boiling with anger yet hopelessly emasculated and infantilised, refuses to play along. Propelled by Gheorghui's towering, tour-de-force performance and a razor-sharp attention to class and generational resentments, Netzer's engrossing film lays bare the moral bankruptcy of upper-class Romanian society and its institutions in expert fashion. Disquieting but also compassionate, this examination of guilt and the crippling effects of loss makes for a fascinating, unforgettable cinema experience.