[3] It was screened in the main competition section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival, where Radu Jude won the Silver Bear for Best Director.

[5][6] The film is set in Wallachia in the early 19th century, when a local policeman, Costandin (played by Teodor Corban), is hired by Iordache, a boyar, to find Carfin (played by Toma Cuzin), a Roma slave who had run away from the boyar's estate after having an affair with his wife, Sultana.

[7] While the structure and the narrative had little in common with existing Romanian literature, the dialogue is often based on works by: Iordache Golescu [ro], Anton Pann, Ion Creangă, Budai-Deleanu and Nicolae Filimon.

[10] Publication The Hollywood Reporter describes Radu Jude's film as "a harsh lesson of history, relieved by overlooked humor and classic Western elements".

is "an exceptional and extremely intelligent insight into a crucial period of history, a film equally inspired and furious".