‘Too many stories exist only to make you think you’re on the right side’: Cristian Mungiu on Fjord, the Cannes winner that divided Europe

The Romanian auteur’s new film could have been the kind of homogenous ‘Europudding’ he’s railed against for years. Instead, it’s a culture-clash skewering of conservative and liberal values worthy of its Palme d’Or

‘Pffff!” Cristian Mungiu lets out an exasperated sigh. We are sitting in the basement of a London hotel, at the end of a long morning of back-to-back interviews for the Romanian film-maker, and his press handler has just snuck into the room to remind him of his next appointment across town. But Mungiu blanks him and leans on to his table, because he wants to tell one more story.

In 2013, Mungiu was part of a delegation of European auteurs who travelled to Brussels to meet the then president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso. At the time, the EU and US were in talks to slash barriers to trade between the two economic blocs, and the film-makers were lobbying the Commission to spare their industry from the deal.