As filmmaker and linguist Dan Alexa points out, in many Indo-European languages, there are vulgar words used for ”face” that have a common origin, related to the Sanskrit mukh. Among others we have the English mug, the Spanish mueca, the French moue. The Romanian language has incorporated several variations, such as moacă, meclă, mutră and the termed ”muie”, inspired by the Romani muialo – the Romani language is a close and archaic relative to Sanskrit. While the term muie has tended to alter its meaning into fellatio, its original sense was kept under the derived muian, slowly embeded into the regional language from the Author`s surroundings – while still an urban slang for face in all Romania.
Romanians are fully aware of the original connection between muie and muian. Over time, muie has developed a highly versatile quality, similar to the English word fuck: fuck you, fucker, fuck off etc. While muie is often shouted to show disapproval, a da muie refers to the act of fellatio from the penis owner`s perspective, while a lua muie is the same, as seen from the receiving end. In time, a da/lua muie has come to also mean to trick someone, to screw someone over, while the masculine noun muist, despite its explicitly sexual context, has never come to mean cocksucker, but asshole or jerk. It is for this richness in meaning and innuendo, but also for the word`s vulgar nature, dragging viewers` minds towards obscenity and the degenerative potential thereof that the Author chose the title ”Muian” for his project. Perhaps a ”proper” term wouldn`t have stirred up the same amount of violence as this promising and lurid word.
