Early life and debut Suchianu was a native of Iași, though some sources also have
Bucharest as his place of origin. He was from an intellectual and cosmopolitan family: his father, Hanes-Ogias (or Ioan) Suchianu, was a professor of
Armenian ethnicity, and his Romanian mother was Lelia,
née Nanu-Muscel. Suchianu Sr, originally from
Focșani, took a position at
Saint Sava National College in Bucharest, and became close friends with the celebrated comedic writer
Ion Luca Caragiale. In 1898, he also published and prefaced the collected poems of
Costache Bălăcescu. Lelia, an aspiring actress during her student years at Elena Doamna School, had also been a militant of the
Social Democratic Workers' Party, animating its
fetele partidului ("girls of the party") wing alongside
Izabela Sadoveanu-Evan. She married Hanes in February 1894, at
Domnița Bălașa Church. The future author was first registered as "Ion Suchianu", but "Dumitru" was added during his baptism into the
Romanian Orthodox Church. As he recounted in 1974, his godfather, General
Dimitrie Lambru, had been nudged by Caragiale into naming as many children as possible with variants of "
Demetrius", which would result in the spread of its pet form,
Mitică, as a national name. Young Suchianu boasted having met Caragiale in his father's home, learning from him how to be the "consummate showman" (
om-spectacol), as well as embracing Caragiale's
philosemitism. He attended high school in Bucharest and at the modern language section of the
Boarding High School in his native city, from which he graduated in 1914. Suchianu's subsequently enlisted at the
University of Iași, He then served in the same artillery battery as Ralea. Suchianu frequented a larger literary circle which included Vianu and poet
Ion Barbu (he left anecdotes about the former's complete admiration for the latter), and also networked with actress
Marioara Ventura, in whose home he met the politician
Joseph Paul-Boncour. Suchianu's debut as a published translator came in 1919, when
Fapta magazine hosted two of his renditions from
Maurice Maeterlinck. From 1922, he was regularly featured in the left-wing sister dailies,
Adevărul and
Dimineața, as well as a large number of other publications, sometimes using pen names such as "M. Suchianu" and "Margareta Popescu". The following year, he wrote a piece targeting
France's extreme-right, focused especially on exposing
Léon Daudet as a "maniac". This contribution, published by
Adevărul, was favorably sampled in
Anatole France's
La République.
Interwar culture critic Later in 1923, Suchianu introduced the Romanian public to
Émile Durkheim's outlook on
values, suggesting that the bourgeoisie could rally around
rationalism or
scientism, while the lower classes could be socialized into faith, as long as these two forms of education cultivated "the same ideal". He commended the
Austrian Republic for its manner of resolving the postwar economic recession. Following
Charles Rist, he argued that the Austrian solution had been a combination of government-induced
hyperinflation,
wage regulation, and selective
nationalization.
Adevărul also hosted his notes on the genesis and "abnormality" of Romanian capitalism, as compared to Western standards. He claimed to have amended the
Orthodox Marxism proposed by
Lothar Rădăceanu, though Rădăceanu himself contended that their positions were virtually identical (and, as such, derived from ideas first advanced by
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea). Against the governing
National Liberals, and in line with dissenting economists such as
Mihail Manoilescu and
Grigore Trancu-Iași, Suchianu supported foreign investments. His stance was ridiculed by jurist Mihail Pașcanu in the National Liberal paper
Viitorul: "young Suchianu [has] elevated himself as a
Cato of the Romanian mindset, which he censures down to its minutest manifestations." Bibliographies report Suchianu's first book as the 1928 collection of literary studies
Aspecte literare ("Literary Aspects"). On 14 January 1929, Suchianu was confirmed a titular clerk at the
Legislative Council, in the First Section. On 23 January of the following year, he became a permanent counselor of its Historical and Economic Studies Bureau, but by February 1935 had been demoted back to titular clerk at the same section (supervised by Filitti). During that interval, he wrote three volumes of political economy:
Introducere în economia politică ("An Introduction to Political Economy", 1930),
Manual de sociologie ("A Textbook of Sociology", 1931) and
Despre avuție ("On Wealth"). He also discovered his passion for cinema early on, later claiming that he knew every detail of film history, "beginning with
Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory". Other critics noted the coincidence of his having been born as the latter film was being released, making Suchianu exactly as old as cinema itself. Both this account, and his self-reported pioneering role in the field, were revised in 1987 by film theorist Manuela Cernat. She traces the origin of Romanian film criticism to 1911–1912. As noted in 1939 by Sadoveanu's journalist daughter,
Profira, he had become a trendsetter, making moviegoers shun
André Hugon's
Tenderness and queue for tickets to
La Grande Illusion. By his own admission, Suchianu had felt provoked to take up the activity after reading an article by the Frenchman
Paul Souday, which denied that cinema was even an art form. He admitted however that most films Romanians were watching were of the basest variety: "We wish it with all our heart that our cinema-goers [...] would lose their habit of falling asleep whenever they're not shown a naked breast, a hip that's getting some action, or a character who's turned millionaire overnight." After 1933, Suchianu became a regular contributor to
Cuvântul Liber, put out by
Tudor Teodorescu-Braniște and reportedly influenced by the underground
Romanian Communist Party. His contributions there included a mock-denunciation of himself as a tool for
Jewish interests, or
Vândut jidanilor ("A Hireling of the Kikes"). Suchianu himself was self-effacing, noting in 1974 that such works had been proven wrong, the magazine's founder, Ibrăileanu, had died in 1936 at a sanitarium, after a long illness during which Suchianu had stood by his bedside. As editor, Suchianu claimed to have personally ensured an extension of the literary and political circle, obtaining paid contributions from Graur,
Geo Bogza,
Miron Constantinescu,
Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, and
Gogu Rădulescu; Overall, as Suchianu reported, "all communist intellectuals, or intellectuals who sympathized with the [communist] party, were permanent contributors." Also joining the panel were dramatist
Mihail Sebastian and poet
Dumitru Corbea. As recalled by the latter, Suchianu was, with Sebastian, one of "two pillars" of the circle in this late-interwar stage, and engaged Ralea in "disputes of the most heated kind". Suchianu's other activities, and especially his more political writings, soon became tinged by controversy. Journalist A. Bucur notes that, in October 1937, Suchianu wrote in
Parlamentul Românesc about the various doctrines
competing in the coming elections, with some praise reserved for the far-right
Iron Guard—though generally favoring the
National Peasants' Party (PNȚ) as a "most balanced" force in society. It characterized the Guard's rhetoric as "simplistic", but also noted that its followers were genuinely committed to a "moral regeneration"; if it discouraged Guardist agitation, it was only because it could also legitimize a "socialist uprising, plainly communist in its scope". '' (including Suchianu) at
ANEF Stadium, doing the
Roman salute The self-coup staged by
King Carol II in 1938, and then the establishment of single-party rule under the
National Renaissance Front (FRN), did not negatively affect Suchianu's career, since Ralea remained politically well connected; while many left-liberal newspapers were banned, Ralea's disciples, including Suchianu and
Demostene Botez, were allowed to publish essays in
Adevărul Literar și Artistic, down to May 1939. In early 1938, Suchianu used his high standing to secure a light sentence for
Ștefan Voicu, who had been prosecuted for collecting information on Romania's readiness for war, disguised as a report on economic
conjecture. Suchianu went to Voicu's trial as a defense witness, despite a broken leg; according to Voicu, he also helped the communist cause by pretending that the report was a banal essay for
Viața Românească. In mid-1938, Suchianu took over as head of the National Film Office, in which capacity he founded and co-wrote a magazine,
Film, which reviewed the week's premieres. He was also collaborating with the
Labor Ministry, held by Ralea, on forming the national leisure service,
Muncă și Voe Bună (MVB). In August 1938, he and
Victor Ion Popa went on an MVB study trip of the
Jiu Valley, the
Prahova Valley, and
Ținutul Timiș, to observe how industrial workers were spending their free time. He spoke admiringly of
Nazi Germany's
Strength Through Joy (KdF) programs, quoting one of their artisans on the need to have "thing[s] of the best quality" set aside for the workers, including in the field of cinema. In an interview with the official paper
România, Suchianu made note that the MVB was unlike both the KdF and
Fascist Italy's
Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro, since the latter two were "totalitarian", "socialist", and unsuited to the Romanian mindset. He commended
Nazism for having eliminated
class conflict, which he described as a Marxist obsession, but noted that Germany aimed for the "eradication of all individual thinking". In November, the same newspaper announced, through
Eugen Jebeleanu's editorial comments, that Suchianu was working on producing a set of "Dopolavorist" films. Late that year, Suchianu and his film crew were in
Sinaia, to document the exploits of
alpine skiers James Couttet and
Maurice Lafforgue. He recalls a tense encounter with General
Emil Pălăngeanu, who managed the event, and who snubbed his cameramen. From October 1939, Suchianu and his leftist group were employed by Teodorescu-Braniște's
Jurnalul. As historian
Lucian Boia notes, they continued to air left-wing opinions, specifically supporting Carol's repression of the Iron Guard. There were still creative differences within this group, with a fellow leftist, the literary critic
George Călinescu, reserving some sarcastic remarks about the all-knowing nature of Suchianu's essays; these appeared in Călinescu's overview of
Romanian literature, published in 1941. By March 1940, Suchianu was supervisor of the local film industry (
Director al Cinematografiei) under Minister of Propaganda
Constantin C. Giurescu. That month, he became a
Grande croix of the
French Legion of Honor, and was fêted by the film importers at
Casa Capșa; he had by then also joined the FRN and had donned its uniform. By then, an investigation had been launched against
Eugen Titeanu, General Secretary of the Propaganda Ministry, who stood accused of embezzlement. Suchianu was also caught up in the affair: on 18 July,
Prime Minister Ion Gigurtu removed him from his post, with retroactive effect—backdating his demotion to 4 July. In his recollections, Suchianu spoke of Gigurtu's decision as: "the Nazis had me sacked." In September, Carol was ousted and the FRN dissolved, with the Guard establishing a "
National Legionary State". The new Labor Minister,
Vasile Iașinschi, had him immediately sacked. The investigation dragged on even after the
Guard's fall from power. In April 1941, with Romania ruled upon by the military regime of
Ion Antonescu and aligned with Germany, Suchianu was being formally prosecuted for allegedly embezzling 282,000
lei while employed by the Propaganda Ministry. Film historian Valerian Sava believes that he was still being censored in 1943, which prevented him from chronicling
Jean Georgescu's
O noapte furtunoasă, now seen as a masterpiece of Romanian cinema. Suchianu's activities during Antonescu and the remainder of World War II were the focus of scrutiny by his political adversaries, who described Suchianu as a profiteer. In 1942, he took a study trip throughout
Nazi-occupied Europe, also stopping over in Italy. Some four years later, the PNȚ's
Dreptatea newspaper publicized claims that he had been sponsored to research fascist legislation; Suchianu defended himself with an article in
Națiunea, arguing that he never completed such an assignment, and that he was in fact a liaison with the
French Resistance. Dismissing this claim as self-serving fabrication,
Dreptatea alleged that Suchianu was in fact mainly active as an "economic
collaborationist", one of Antonescu's "middlemen and jobbers" (
samsari și misiți), but also that he ran errands for his wife, Florica, who had founded a film distribution company. She had remained the sole owner after her Jewish associate, E. Follender, had been deported by Antonescu to
Transnistria. During the next-to-final stage of the world war, Suchianu supported Ralea's effort to coalesce left-wing groups in opposition to Antonescu and the
Axis powers in general. A
Siguranța report of 27 June 1944 mentions that Ralea's underground
Socialist Peasants' Party had received pledges from Suchianu, Botez,
Scarlat Callimachi, and
N. D. Cocea. Antonescu was toppled by the
August 1944 coup, which saw Romania joining the
Allies. Suchianu claimed to have been personally involved in "conspiratorial activity" leading up to these events, and noted that Sebastian was also marginally involved, as the author of pro-Soviet propaganda. Soon after, when Sebastian was mortally wounded by a truck, Suchianu attended his funeral. In November 1944,
Viața Romînească was allowed to reemerge, and Suchianu was its co-editor, as well as co-owner, Suchianu had always intended to take up the study of psychology, which he defined as a "study of death"—he viewed death as a "short-circuit", which arrives when a man is reduced to only one psychological state. In September 1945, he contributed to the first-ever issue of
Lumea, which was being put out by his former rival Călinescu. As a member of the editorial staff at the time,
Ion Caraion recalls meetings in which both Suchianu and Călinescu had trouble making themselves heard over the "oral debit" of another doyen,
Camil Petrescu. Suchianu endured as one of
Lumeas main contributors, as the magazine took up support of the Communist Party, also writing for the generic-left-wing
Contemporanul. In October, he lectured at the
Jewish Democratic Committee on the topic of "Racism vs Democracy", being introduced there by
Paul Iscovici. By April 1946, Suchianu and Călinescu had joined the
National Popular Party (PNP) and its "press and documentary section", participating in its conference tour. The PNP was affiliated with the Communist-ran
Bloc of Democratic Parties (BPD), and, in June, Suchianu was assigned a seat on the BPD's own press and propaganda directorate. Also then, as a member of the Legislative Council, he joined the juridical section of the
Romanian Society for Friendship with the Soviet Union. At the PNP's
Națiunea, also put out by Călinescu, Suchianu drew attention with his criticism of the PNȚ, inaugurating his long polemics with
Dreptatea, which included having his own connections with the far-right revealed for the public.
Dreptateas Bucur noted in June 1946 that Suchianu was a man of "moral frivolity" and "vulgar cynicism", who was being paid to write by the communist-and-PNP politico
Petre Constantinescu-Iași. During August, Teodorescu-Braniște took up criticism of Suchianu's past in
Jurnalul, calling him a
Germanophile. Suchianu responded that the accusation was incoherent;
Dreptatea, covering the exchange, mockingly agreed with Suchianu, who "does not have enough character to maintain any precise attitude", including in terms of Germanophilia. As later argued by the disgraced communist
Petre Pandrea, Suchianu's attacks on the PNȚ had been requested by two of the Communist Party's factional leaders, namely
Ana Pauker and
Vasile Luca. Pandrea regards Suchianu as one of "the boys who were minister material under all regimes", but who found themselves cast aside from late 1947, when a
Romanian communist regime was fully established. Pătrășcanu, who was serving as Minister of Justice before his own fall from grace, once confirmed that he regarded Suchianu as a bribe-taker, who could not be trusted to either manage cinemas or lead newspapers; he noted having refused toi even consider Ralea's demands that Suchianu be made ambassador to
Egypt. The Florica Suchianu film company was
nationalized that November. For a while, D. I. Suchianu was active as a translator of Romanian poetry into French, including pieces by
Tudor Arghezi and
Mihai Eminescu; He viewed himself as the best contributor in the field, alongside
Alexandru Al. Philippide, though he also noted that Mihail Sadoveanu had once mocked his Eminescu translations. Despite having enjoyed protection from Ralea, who experienced advancement as an ally of the Communist Party, he was slated for political persecution, and was ultimately imprisoned by the
Securitate. He was held without trial between 1948 and 1950, Pandrea reports that Suchianu served his time in
Jilava Prison; as the prison cook, "he thoroughly made a fool of himself." In April 1951, the former inmate was helped along by Călinescu, who offered him employment at the Institute of Literary History and Folklore; he was formally recognized as an assistant researcher in August. Also that month, Suchianu appeared at the Bucharest students'
film society, newly established by
Paul Barbă Neagră and
Geo Saizescu, to give a lecture that drew comparisons between the art of
Charlie Chaplin and that of
René Clair. As noted by film historian Călin Căliman, who attended this and other lectures by Suchianu, the halls were always "packed full" with young men and women eager to hear him speak. His noted contributions for 1963 included an introduction to
Hungarian cinema, which completed a topical lecture by Anna Halász. It declared
Zoltán Várkonyi's
Memories of a Strange Night to be highly notable for its "original and moving ending", and upheld
Mihály Szemes'
Alba Regia as an "original and perfect film". In August 1964,
Luceafărul featured his panegyric to the recently deceased Ralea, quoting
Horatio's farewell to
Prince Hamlet. According to Suchianu himself, his success with the reading public was in large part because he identified with moviegoers, telling them the "novellas that each spectator creates in his own mind"—what he called the
povești-bis ("encore stories"). Suchianu revisited the era of
silent film with the half-memoir
Vedetele filmului de odinoară ("Stars of Bygone Films"), appearing at
Editura Meridiane in mid-1968. It was criticized at the time of its publication by fellow writer Șerban Miroiu for its "unbridled enthusiasm", and for his full-on critique of
modernist film.
Vedetele showed Suchianu as fully committed to
Hollywood films: he described
Chaplin's Tramp as one of the major achievements in art, and
John Barrymore as "perhaps the greatest actor that mankind ever had", while noting that
Jeanne Moreau was overrated. He followed up with critical biographies of
Marlene Dietrich and
Erich von Stroheim, lauded by his fellow interwar cinephile,
Ion Filotti Cantacuzino, for recognizing the centrality of actors in the cinematic experience. In 1972, Meridiane also put out Suchianu and Constantin Popescu's volume on "
unforgettable films" (
Filme de neuitat), covering the ground between
Lupu Pick's ''
New Year's Eve'' and
Sergiu Nicolaescu's
Michael the Brave. Căliman praised the contribution overall, but questioned Suchianu and Popescu's categorization, which had
The Grand Maneuver as a
psychological film and
Forest of the Hanged as a purely
historical film. That year, Suchianu announced that he had prepared a second volume, as
Arta a șaptea și al treilea om nou ("The Seventh Art and the Third New Man"), as well as a large number of entries for
Editura Politică's dictionary of aesthetics; 40 of his Eminescu poems in French were handed for publication by
Editura Eminescu, and additional 10 by
Editura Albatros. His other contributions as a film theorist were collected in the volumes
Cinematograful, acest necunoscut ("Cinema, the Unknown", 1973) and
Nestemate cinematografice ("Cinematic Pearls", 1980). Another collection of his literary essays appeared in 1978, as
Foste adevăruri viitoare ("Former Future Truths"). Suchianu spent his final decade In his late seventies and eighties, Suchianu made public shows of his vitality and athleticism—playing tennis, skiing, or swimming, sometimes in front of
Romanian Television cameras; fellow film critic Florian Potra suggests that none of these performances were staged, and that Suchianu, the "cheerful
bonze", really had the constitution of a thirty-year-old. was called upon to discuss his meetings with other figures—including in 1975, when he spoke at the
Museum of Romanian Literature about his encounters with Sebastian. In early 1979, he was giving a "film museum" series of lectures at the Bucharest Students' Club, to an audience which reportedly comprised 800 people. One of these was
Irina Margareta Nistor, who notes that he was wearing his Legion of Honor ribbon on his "impeccable suit". In a 1980 piece, partly written as a
free verse poem,
Radu Cosașu recounted that a
parka-wearing Suchianu had been seen braving the blizzard, taking the
trolleybus from his home to the
Press Palace and never missing out on his lectures at the People's University. Also according to Cosașu, he was still charming youngsters by drawing comparisons between
ABBA: The Movie and traditional stories of
courtly love. As noted by fellow columnist Mircea Alexandrescu, Suchianu was greatly affected by the successive deaths of his daughter, Teți, his niece, Catinca Ralea, and his nephew-in-law,
Emanoil Petruț; he therefore lost his cheerful demeanor and apparently gave up sports, spending his final period writing only in his bed. He died in Bucharest on the night of 17/18 April 1985, leaving a "massive" autobiography,
Amintiri din șapte vremi ("Recollections of Seven Eras"), which had preoccupied him since 1972. ==Legacy==