In their Fjord review, Lisa Johnson Mandell and Canine Critic Rocky agree that the film is a quiet yet commanding revelation, food for unending thought and discussion.

Some movies shout, groan or scream. Fjord barely raises its voice above a whisper, and still shakes you to the core.

The setup is simple. Mihai (Sebastian Stan) is Romanian. Lisbet (Renate Reinsve) is Norwegian-born. They have five children, one of them a nursing baby, when they leave Romania for the small Norwegian fjord town where Lisbet grew up. They are devout, conservative Christians. They find a like-minded church, settle in, and try to build a quiet life.

But the town and most of its inhabitants are progressive, and take a dim view of what the family teaches at home: hell is real, homosexuality is a sin and dancing is not allowed. Hypersensitive child care workers go on red alert when a teenage daughter turns up at school with bruises, and her younger brothers and sisters use innocent-sounding expressions about discipline. The children understand Norwegian but don’t speak it fluently, and in translation, a light swat on the backside starts to sound like a brutal beating.

School employees alert the authorities. The children, including the infant, are removed while their parents face trial for child abuse. What the film shows us is a gentle, loving family guided by their faith. What the state sees is something else entirely—physically and emotionally abusive parents unfit to raise their children. The distance between those two visions is what the film is about, and in director Cristian Mungiu’s capable hands, it is harrowing to watch.

He doesn’t present project a snarling villain, and he doesn’t project us with a haloed saint. Mungiu is interested in exposing a raw, culture-war nerve to see what can could come of it. He leaves us to sit and squirm. The very liberal friend I brought with me to the screening was astounded to find herself leaning right as the system closed in on the family.

Mungiu’s past work has been duly reward. He won the Palme d’Or in 2007 for 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, the best screenplay prize in 2012 for Beyond the Hills, and the best director prize in 2016 for Graduation. Fjord has now earned him a second Palme d’Or, having premiered in competition at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival and winning the top prize.

Fjord review — Sebastian Stan astounds

Sebastian Stan gives the performance of a lifetime, and I don’t say that lightly. His Mihai is gentle, earnest and a little nerdy, about as far from the brooding Bucky Barnes of the Avengers films as an actor can travel. He is nearly unrecognizable, and speaks three different languages: Romanian, English and Norwegian.

What most people don’t realize is that Stan was born in Romania, and was able to speak with the director and his Romanian with the crew every day while working on the film. That explains his affinity for that language. While his character speaks in Norwegian and understand the language, his lack of total fluency is explained by the fact that he has been living in Romania and most of the Norwegian he speaks was taught to him by his Norwegian wife. Speaking three languages in one film is an amazing feat.

Stan’s co-star and on-screen wife, played by Renate Reinsve who is sublime as Lisbet, a hardworking, kind and loving mother who keeps her composure even as everything is taken from her. Reinsve is one of the finest actresses working today, as acknowledged by the fact that she won Best Actress at Cannes in 2021 for The Worst Person in the World, the first Norwegian actress to win an award at the festival. She was also nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for Sentimental Value. Here she dials everything down and lets stillness do the work. Her performance is supremely compelling.

The entire film is subtly and profoundly layered — even the title goes deep. A fjord is a dramatic chasm with steep cliffs on either side and nothing but water between them. This is the situation the family and community find themselves in, staring across a gap neither side can cross.

Then there are the avalanches that loom above the school where the children study and where Mihai works as in IT technician. The town has learned to calmly live with the threat. But make no mistake—when the snow falls, it portends upcoming trouble for the family.

Fjord feels small, quiet and intimate, but the emotions it stirs are deep, urgent and universal.

Canine Critic Rocky’s Review

4 out of 5 Treats

This one is paws-itively a masterpiece. I agree with Mom on every count, from Sebastian Stan’s career-best turn to Renate Reinsve’s quiet strength.

As for the animals, the dogs barked, the sheep bleated convincingly, and I wanted to chase them all. Some of the humans reminded me of animals caavalierly stalking pray, and they put me on guard. Others were heartbreakingly loyal, and I related. It made me happy to be a dog, who doesn’t have to deal with such devastating issues.

If this Fjord review makes you want to chug over to the cineplex to catch a screening, get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

In their Fjord review, Lisa Johnson Mandell and Canine Critic Rocky agree that the film is a quiet yet commanding revelation, food for unending thought and discussion.