Julieta Szönyi Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
Julieta Szönyi
Acting
Biography
Julieta Ivanca Szönyi (May 13, 1949 – April 18, 2025) was a celebrated Romanian actress of Hungarian descent, known for her graceful screen presence and memorable roles in Romanian cinema and television. She was born in Timișoara, Romania, and moved to Bucharest at the age of four. Szönyi studied acting at the I. L. Caragiale National University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest, where she developed the craft that would make her one of the most beloved actresses of her generation. She rose to fame in 1972 with her role as Otilia Mărculescu in *Felix și Otilia*, a film adaptation of George Călinescu’s novel. Her performance, marked by subtlety and emotional depth, made a lasting impression on audiences and critics alike. She later starred as Adnana in the beloved television series *Toate pânzele sus!* (1976–77), further cementing her status as a cultural icon in Romania. Throughout her career, Julieta Szönyi appeared in numerous films and stage productions, including *Ecaterina Teodoroiu* (1978), *Falansterul* (1979), and *The Whistlers* (2019). She was admired for her elegance, intelligence, and ability to bring complexity to her characters. She came from an artistic family—her father was the painter Ștefan Szönyi, and her sister, Anca Szönyi Thomas, was also an actress. She was married to actor Ákos Gálfi. Julieta Szönyi passed away on April 18, 2025, at the age of 75, after a battle with leukemia. Her death was deeply felt across the Romanian cultural world, where she remains remembered as one of the great actresses of the golden era of Romanian cinema.
Filmography Movies
Acting
Felix and Otilia
Young Felix moves into his eccentric uncle’s house and is immediately drawn to the enigmatic Otilia, a free-spirited woman who lives by her own rules. Love, inheritance games, decaying mansions, and fragile hearts collide in this elegant adaptation of George Călinescu’s novel Enigma Otiliei.
Ora zero
In New Year's Eve night, an emergency team is called to fix a tram power line. One member is missing though, he is involved in a DUI.
Mitică Popescu
Mitică Popescu is a functionary at a bank and he is secretly in love with the owner. She is in financial trouble though, and she is about to lose the bank and everything she has. Mitică finds a way to help her.
Cine iubește și lasă
Andra is a redactor at a women's magazine. The readers are contacting her for help in thir relationships. But Anda has problems on her own.
Comoara
A local Romanian chieftain in 16th century Transylvania discovers a great treasure of Decebalus. He decides to send it for safekeeping in Moldavia, but he has to evade the Transylvanian prince and the king of Hungary, who get wind of it and want it for themselves.
Those Who Pay with Their Lives
An uncompromising journalist obsessed with the idea of absolute justice ends up committing suicide after reading his father's biography. Based on three novels by Camil Petrescu.
The Whistlers
A Romanian police officer, determined to free from prison a crooked businessman who knows where a mobster's money is hidden, must learn the difficult ancestral whistling language (Silbo Gomero) used on the island of Gomera.
Phalanstery
In the early 19th century the Romanian Theodor Diamant was inspired by the French utopian socialist Charles Fourier and established one of Fourier's "phalansteries" in Rumania. The film dramatizes the origins and demise of this effort, called the "Scaieni Phalanstery (the term is derived from "phalanx" and "monastery"). Among the socio-political commentary that is conveyed throughout, there is an important collusion between the army and the wealthy landowners of the time, and as the film points out in its own way, neither of these groups has ever been convicted of socialist/utopian tendencies.
Ecaterina Teodoroiu
The story of heroine Ecaterina Teodoroiu, the only woman who fought in the Romanian Army during World War 1.
The Married Couple of the Year Two
Nicolas Philibert goes to America after killing a French aristocrat. On his return he tries to divorce his wife, Charlotte, but when he sees others trying to woo her his own interest is rekindled.
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