Adapted 1854 novel in 41/2 hours
Based on a 19th-century novel that's usually characterized as sprawling, Mysteries of Lisbon is a hothouse melodrama seen through a cool, discerning eye.
Based on a 19th-century novel that's usually characterized as sprawling,
Mysteries of Lisbon
is a hothouse melodrama seen through a cool, discerning eye.
Director Rául Ruiz has called it one of his most theoretical films, but this multicourse feast (41/2 hours) is no self-conscious demonstration of molecular gastronomy. The storytelling is straightforward, with a classical sheen, even as mischief and hallucination puncture the serene surface.
The running time should not be cause for dismay; with 100-plus films to his credit, Ruiz is nothing if not a master of tone and pacing as he moves his players through the drawing rooms, hotels, convents and monasteries of Western Europe and, briefly, Brazil, unwrapping stories within stories within stories.
At the center of the ever-expanding lacework - until the center shifts, as it will several times, and back again - is an orphaned teen who introduces the saga as a "diary of suffering." Like many of the characters, João is not what he at first appears. He learns he's really Pedro, the product of a star-crossed love between two members of the nobility, both second-born and, therefore, destined for misfortune rather than inheritance.
Pedro's inheritance is a particularly intense strain of saudade, that Portuguese mode of longing; when his countess mother (Maria João Bastos) suffers, she does it exquisitely.
Her ally, and Pedro's, is the priest who has housed and schooled him: Father Dinis, who might be called the mystery of Mysteries. A keeper of secrets he claims he'd rather not know, he's a protector with the manipulative focus of Iago.
Among the shadow-draped story's gypsies, tramps, and aristocrats, destiny is least oppressive for those who shape-shift and name-change, who refuse to settle for the identity dictated by their birth. And that's no surprise from a protean artist like Ruiz.
Mysteries of Lisbon *** (out of four stars)
Directed by Raúl Ruiz. With Adriano Luz, Maria João Bastos, Ricardo Pereira, Afonso Pimentel, João Luis Arrais, and Clotilde Hesme. In Portuguese, French, and English
with subtitles. Distributed by Music Box Films.
Running time: 4 hours, 17 mins.
Parent's guide: no MPAA rating
Playing at: Ritz at the Bourse
EndText