Chichester Cinema at New Park
Mysteries of Lisbon
- Mistérios de Lisboa
Follows a jealous countess, a wealthy businessman, and a young orphaned boy across Portugal, France, Italy and Brazil where they connect with a variety of mysterious individuals.
The late Raoul Ruiz’s adaptation of a novel by Portugal's equally prolific Camilo Castelo Branco about the strange world of European nobility in the 19th century. ‘Mysteries’ opens with the voice of young Pedro, an orphan who boards at the diminutive Father Dinis' school and is told by the priest that his mother was a great noblewoman with an extraordinary past.
We then retreat into the labyrinth of the past where secrets of paternity are revealed and terrible betrayals are related. Sometimes we observe all this from afar and sometimes through the eyes of one or other of the characters.
Servants eavesdrop on their masters, and almost everyone keeps a watchful eye on each other. The nobility of Portugal, Spain, Italy and France, dressed with great attention to detail, and equally aware of their various codes of behaviour, pace through the story with a formality that the best breeding evidently brings.
The often beautiful women seem either to be worshipped as goddesses or subjugated as lesser beings. The movie resembles a neoclassical escritoire with endless drawers and compartments that are eventually opened to reveal their secrets, but rarely consecutively or chronologically. It's a lavish, elegant, operatic, preposterous 19th century melodrama and hypnotically beautiful. Originally presented as a 4 part mini-series, it will be shown in 2 parts. (Subtitles)
Presented in 2 parts (114m + 141m) with an interval: Tickets £10 for both parts
Portugal · 2011 · Raoul Ruiz · 272min
