Andrei Pleșu, Dilemma: Victor Rebengiuc

The text below was written 11 years ago. I am repeating it for the sake of Victor Rebengiuc, who has just turned 93 years old. I have always admired him with great affection, both for his immense acting talent and for his civic spirit, as well as for his humor and cordiality. I must not forget: and for the subtle intuition of his optimistic life partner: the miraculous lady Mariana Mihulț, a landmark of talent and femininity on the Romanian stage.

In 1990 or '91, when I was at "Culture", I had to, at one point, meet the new ambassador of France. We were both attending a reception and, moving from one conversation to another, we were each waiting for the episode of the meeting. The reception was approaching its end, however, and the meeting was not happening. So I asked someone nearby if perhaps the ambassador was absent. "But you spoke with him at length!" – I was told. Only then did I identify the character and, half-jokingly, half-seriously, I apologized: "You don't have the 'technical' air of an ambassador!". "I am glad" – replied my future good friend. "I must tell you, in turn, that you do not have the air of a minister either!" This was the most flattering compliment I received in my public career.

The first thing that comes to mind when I try to explain my admiration for Victor Rebengiuc is that he does not have the air (and airs) of an actor. His profession is not "read on his face", he does not have the tics, the pretensions, the characteristic professional "mark". I generally believe that something is not right when someone's physiognomy instantly betrays an occupation. I prefer the generic mask of humanity to the caricatural "specialization" of features. To have the face of a "philosopher", of a "popa", of a "professor", of a "writer", of a "painter", of an "engineer" means, simply and plainly, to disappear into a category, to have no face. If you must resemble something, you must resemble your inner life, your nature, and what you have managed to add to it over time, through tenacious effort and assumed drama. Otherwise, you acquire the expressiveness of a functional portrait, of an impersonal dexterity. I do not want to say that I like thinkers who have the face of waiters or literary critics who have the face of accountants. But in face-to-face encounters, I tend to seek authenticity, personal idea, emotion, the "face", rather than the scheme of a routine activity.

Victor Rebengiuc can brilliantly play any role because he never plays the role of the "artist". The only "signal" of his specific engagement is perhaps the unmistakable clarity of his speech, the transparent diction, the unassuming attention to the clarity of vocal emission and message. And it is not about the usual affectation of the stage, the pedantic, artificial concern for the sound effect, for the virile imposture of the voice. It is about respect for the text, for the interlocutor, and for the language. Victor Rebengiuc's talent derives, above all, from a certain cult for truth (a truth that does not pertain to metaphysics, but to decency) and from a rare endowment for the natural. The miracle is that, being always himself, the same in film or theater as well as in daily life, Rebengiuc manages to never repeat himself, that is, to be, in each character, different, and specifically faithful to the character. In other words, the performance is always predictable (and, therefore, guaranteed), while the style is always fresh, new, full of surprises. Therefore, as a spectator, you cannot get enough of Victor Rebengiuc, you cannot anticipate his solutions. This does not mean that he is ever "clichéd", ingeniously for the sake of originality, histrionic. He seems to do everything simply, effortlessly, without the vain obsession of success. He is exceptional because he does not cultivate exceptionalism, the "creative" pomp, the rhetorical anguish. He does not have the glamorous aura of a star, the superstition of the burdened genius, the slight absence of the maladjusted genius. He is like everyone else. Which is increasingly rare...

The instinctive refusal of conventional "enrollment" makes Victor Rebengiuc, at present, a kind of universal "instrument". He is good both on stage and on screen, he is good in drama and in comedy, he is good for older generations and for the younger ones. For some time now, I have been pleased to notice that a multitude of young and very young directors are turning to him for their own works. The phenomenon is significant from both sides. It is impressive that young people choose him and that he accepts. It means that newcomers feel the lack of solemnity, the availability, the superior cordiality of an actor with whom it is profitable to work. And it also means that Victor Rebengiuc does not want and cannot petrify into a dated success, of a generation. He is not "a '60s man", "an '80s man" or "a '90s man". He is good. He is very good. With people like him, culture transcends beyond bellicose rankings and beyond calendars.

https://www.dilema.ro/situatiunea/victor-rebengiuc