July 25
MANOEL DE OLIVIERA
7:00 – DOOMED LOVE
Manoel de Oliveira (1979) 265 mins
Oliveira’s epic & iconoclastic adaptation of Camilo Castelo Branco’s (Mysteries of Lisbon, filmed by Raúl Ruiz) mid-19th century novel of thwarted passion & social repression is now often regarded as the veteran director’s greatest work by critics such as Jonathan Rosenbaum.
Made for Portuguese television, its intricate, expressive mise en scène & low-key lighting belie its small-screen origins. Oliveira attempted to adapt both the narrative of the novel – full of incident in its Romeo & Juliet-like “doomed love” story – & its key textual qualities, the film emerging as a palimpsest of words, voiceover & interior thought: “the way of telling the story, the style, the sonorousness of the phrases, the composition are all just as beautiful & interesting as the events that unfold. Therefore, it seemed convenient for me to focus on the text, & that is what I did.”
A landmark of European art cinema, it is a film that is as much about the style & language of storytelling & the adaptation of literature to cinema as a portrayal of Portuguese society. J. Hoberman called it “a minuet staged as grand opera”.
35mm print courtesy of Cinemateca Portuguesa.