Angela is a harassed and sleep-deprived production assistant for a Romanian film and video company in Bucharest. Her employer has a commission from an Austrian business. The Austrians want them to create a safety video, exhorting workers to wear safety clothing and equipment, containing a testimony from someone who has been disabled at work, and prepared to say on camera that it was all down to their failure to wear helmets etc. – in other words, to blame themselves rather than the bosses. Angela has to drive around endlessly and frantically, using her smartphone to audition disabled people who are prepared to do this in return for the promised fee. It is a miserable life for Angela, whose only pleasure is posting clips on TikTok where she spews misogynist bile and adoration for Vladimir Putin.
“On the one hand, I’m drawn to the sort of humor that comes from changing your perspective on things. /…/ And I’m happy to let my scenes stretch a second longer than they should, because often the humor I’m after lies in those moments. /…/ The second thing is that I feel that humor – especially as it’s used in this film – can turn into an edgy and powerful critical tool, thanks to the ways it can inflate and exaggerate things.” (Radu Jude)