You Don’t Belong Here, the new Romanian drama from director Florin Şerban, premiered in the International Competition at the 79th Locarno Film Festival on August 9. Critics are genuinely split on the film: some have praised its precise, unsettling examination of masculinity, patriarchy and a father-son relationship in crisis, while others argue that its promising setup is undermined by airless dialogue and a badly misjudged ending.
The film follows Marius Călimănescu (Adrian Văncică), a respected surgeon and chief medical officer in a small Romanian town, who has raised his introverted teenage son Ioan (Teodor Butănescu) alone since the death of the boy’s mother. His controlled life begins to unravel when police suspect Ioan of involvement in the murder of an elderly Roma man during a violent confrontation involving masked vigilantes targeting the local Roma community.
As Marius investigates, he discovers that his son has been secretly cycling through town at night with a far-right gang. What emerges is a disturbing portrait of a teenager consumed by resentment, insecurity and a desire to prove a version of masculinity that his father has never allowed him to develop on his own terms.
The strongest praise for You Don’t Belong Here has focused on Şerban’s formal control. Cineuropa described it as “a powerful, precise film unafraid to expose the grotesque side of a masculinity in crisis,” highlighting the film’s extensive use of long takes.
That approach becomes central to the storytelling. Much of the film is presented through Marius’s rigid perspective, with the camera trapping people and spaces within his worldview. Cineuropa noted that those around him appear to “exist only through him,” reinforcing the film’s examination of patriarchal control.
The same review called the film “cruelly poetic,” suggesting that Şerban gradually exposes the weaknesses of an outdated patriarchal model until it begins to collapse under its own contradictions.
ICS Film was similarly enthusiastic, describing the movie as “a tremendously compelling and relentlessly disturbing moral fable” and praising its deconstruction of masculinity alongside its exploration of wider cultural tensions.
Variety, however, found the formal approach considerably less successful overall. While acknowledging that the middle section is “rigorously filmed and sharply observed,” the publication argued that the film ultimately becomes a disappointment. Its review characterized You Don’t Belong Here as a potentially involving story weakened by airless dialogue and a misguided finale.
Performances
Adrian Văncică has emerged as one of the film’s clearest strengths. Cineuropa particularly highlighted a scene in which Marius admits to his lover that he despises his own son, calling the moment shocking and praising Văncică for making the character’s gradual psychological unraveling increasingly apparent.
His performance is crucial because Marius is not presented as a conventional sympathetic father. Instead, the film gradually exposes the contradictions between his self-image as a disciplined, responsible parent and the damaging expectations he has imposed on his son.
Teodor Butănescu is also effective as Ioan, conveying the teenager’s quiet resentment and growing alienation. While critics have differed on whether the screenplay ultimately gives his character a satisfying arc, his performance provides the emotional foundation for the father-son conflict.
The film’s central idea has attracted considerable critical interest. You Don’t Belong Here uses the relationship between Marius and Ioan to examine how rigid ideas about masculinity can be inherited, reproduced and eventually distorted by the next generation.
The far-right gang and the murder investigation expand that personal conflict into a broader examination of social alienation and cultural tensions. Rather than treating Ioan’s radicalization as an isolated teenage rebellion, the film connects it to the emotional environment created by his upbringing.
This is where the critical divide becomes most apparent.
Supportive reviews have viewed the film’s moral ambiguity and psychological discomfort as strengths. Variety, however, argued that the execution does not consistently match the strength of the premise. The publication specifically criticized the dialogue and the film’s ending, calling the finale “stupefyingly misguided.”
Variety also questioned Şerban’s decision to handle the directing, writing, producing and editing himself, suggesting that the film might have benefited from greater separation between those creative responsibilities.
The film’s biggest point of contention is its final stretch.
Several critics have responded positively to the film’s gradual accumulation of tension, but Variety felt that the ending ultimately undermines much of what came before it. That criticism is significant because the film spends much of its running time carefully constructing Marius’s worldview and the complicated relationship between father and son.
For supporters, the uncomfortable conclusion appears to be part of the film’s larger moral argument. For detractors, it feels less like a natural culmination of the story and more like a misjudged attempt to resolve its increasingly complex ideas.
That divide explains why You Don’t Belong Here has generated such contrasting responses despite broad agreement about its technical ambition and central subject.
A Significant Return for Florin Şerban
The film also marks an important return for Şerban. His 2010 debut feature If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle premiered in competition at the Berlinale and won the Silver Bear.
After several years away from feature filmmaking while focusing on an educational project, Şerban returned with the two-part series Love 1. Dog and Love 2. America, both of which premiered at Sarajevo.
With You Don’t Belong Here, he returns to the international festival circuit with another deeply character-driven work built around social tension and moral conflict.
Planet of Films Perspective
You Don’t Belong Here appears to be a film whose ambition is less disputed than its execution. Even the more critical responses recognize the strength of its premise, the precision of its filmmaking and the unsettling portrait of masculinity at its centre.
The split comes down largely to whether Şerban’s formal control and psychological approach successfully carry the story through its second half. The performances, particularly Adrian Văncică’s, provide a strong anchor, while the film’s long-take visual language gives its examination of patriarchal control a distinctive identity.
But the criticism of the dialogue and finale cannot be ignored. If the ending fails to land, it risks weakening a film that spends considerable time building a complex moral and psychological framework.
The result is a challenging, divisive festival drama rather than an uncomplicated critical success. You Don’t Belong Here may not have achieved consensus at Locarno, but the disagreement itself suggests that Şerban has made a film with enough substance to provoke serious debate.
Film Details
Original Title: Nu e locul tău aici
Director: Florin Şerban
Writer: Florin Şerban
Cast: Adrian Văncică, Teodor Butănescu, Cristina Richter, Alex Conovaru, Izdrailă Janir, Adriana Neagoe, Tudor Vîrgă, Emil Boroghină
Genre: Drama
Country: Romania
Cinematography: Liviu Mărghidan
Music: Marius Leftărache, Nikita Dembinski
Production Companies: Fantascope Films, Scharf Film Production, Avanpost, Earlybird
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