Directed by Eugen Jebeleanu
Written by Ioana Moraru
Starring: Conrad Mericoffer, Alexandra Potocean, Radouan Leflahi
MPAA Rating: NR
Runtime: 81 minutes

by Ryan Smillie, Staff Writer

A gay Romanian police officer lives two separate lives in director Eugen Jebeleanu’s unsatisfyingly (if appropriately) bifurcated Poppy Field. Taking its inspiration from a series of homophobic protests in Bucharest that started at a 2013 screening of The Kids Are All Right, Poppy Field finds Cristi’s (Conrad Mericoffer) romantic weekend with his long-distance French boyfriend interrupted by a day of policework that threatens to expose too much of his personal life. While realistically sketched, Jebeleanu’s film’s steadily mounting tension never reaches a climax, and Poppy Field only serves as a mere character study.

Upon Hadi’s (Radouan Leflahi) arrival, Poppy Field starts off like a descendant of Andrew Haigh’s Weekend – cinematographer Marius Panduru captures Cristi and Hadi in tight, intimate close-ups as they can’t keep their hands off each other. But this intimacy is quickly undercut as Cristi shoots down Hadi’s suggestion of a trip outside of the city. And when his sister arrives for a surprise visit, curious about her brother’s “gay phase,” Cristi’s walls shoot up, unwilling to reveal any more about his life than he already has. His resistance flattens the room, despite Hadi and his sister’s best efforts, and Cristi angrily hurries his sister out before he goes to work, leaving Hadi in the apartment alone.

Reporting for duty at a protest at a gay-themed movie screening is uncomfortable enough for Cristi, who is closeted to his fellow officers, and Panduru’s tight shots continue, no longer intimate, but now nervous, and more tense by the minute. Growing ever more agitated, Cristi encounters a former hookup who is not shy about making their connection known. After making the bare minimum effort to keep his distance, Cristi assaults the man, foolishly making his situation even worse. As it turns out, Cristi has a history of these violent outbursts, the other officers (whose individual reactions to the protest are far more complicated than mere monolithic homophobia) quickly move to isolate Cristi from his victim. With a single-minded focus on protecting his secret, Cristi can’t see that his increasingly absurd excuses for his assault and his demands to know what his victim is saying about him are doing nothing to help his case.

As frustrating as it is to watch, Cristi’s ordeal ultimately becomes more depressing than anything else. His fear of revealing too much of himself cuts him off from everyone – his boyfriend, his sister, his colleagues (many of whom appear to be his friends as well). And he loses all sense of proportion, his violent and outsized reactions only serving to emphasize his inner turmoil. The underpinnings of his actions are certainly understandable (even if not defensible), but his self-imposed isolation does eventually seem a bit curious. Certainly, there is societal conflict over homosexuality, as seen by the protest itself, and his fellow officers aren’t exactly beacons of acceptance. There’s even a bit of a scathing tone in his sister’s interest in his “gay phase.” But what about the queer community assembled for the screening? What about Cristi’s hot French boyfriend? Why is Cristi so uniquely tortured?

Jebeleanu’s film isn’t really interested in exploring any of that, to Poppy Field’s detriment. Instead, much like Cristi, the film maintains a narrow-minded focus on ratcheting up the tension, building and building until, suddenly, the protest is over, and the police are heading home. A conversation with the most sympathetic officer on the force seems like it might be leading to a revelation, but Cristi jumps out of the car before it can get too serious. And that’s it. Poppy Field doesn’t end enigmatically, just with a lot of questions that should be addressed in a nonexistent third act: Are there consequences to Cristi’s violent outburst? Have the other officers figured out Cristi’s secret? How does this impact his relationship with Hadi? For that matter, where is Hadi? Will Cristi ever be able to live a satisfying life? We can certainly imagine the answers to these questions, but Poppy Field comes to an abrupt end without addressing any of them.