‘It is not a work of fiction,
it’s a diary of suffering’ announces the introductory quotation of Chilean
director Raul Ruiz penultimate feature film[1]. Ruiz
is not a director I am familiar with and apparently very few of his 100 or so films
have been released in the UK, which seems a great shame after watching his epic
266-minute period drama Mysteries of Lisbon (2010). Originally
intended as a six hour TV mini series but subsequently tailored for the big
screen.
I’m not going to try
and explain the plot only to say that the story, adapted from a 19-century
novel written by Camilo Castelo Branco and never translated into English, has
many differing strands covering three generations over a fifty-year period. It
presents its narrative like a family tree where the films characters are in
some way connected with each other, with an orphan and a priest at the centre
of its branches.
Nothing is what it seems; every one changes their names and identities,
which does tend to complicate matters for the viewer. Truly a jigsaw puzzle of
a film, a dream like experience that needs patience to untangle its complex web
of intrigue! But saying that it is worth
it. This beautiful production has a fabulous cast with some wonderful scenery and
settings and some elegant camera work from Andre Szankowski. It does bring to
mind another Portuguese film; Rita Azevedo Gomes artistic treat A
Woman's Revenge (2011) that unfortunately still does not have a general
release in the UK.
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