98% of interviews follow the same pleasantries-exchange / question-and-answer / pleasantries-exchange format, yet there are those rare times an incredible opportunity arrives. Which is to say that when I interviewed Paulo Branco at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival I couldn’t have anticipated he––maybe the greatest producer in film history––would ask me to screen Manoel de Oliveira films that, per him, were receiving no notice from United States programmers. Just five months later I’m delighted to unveil Mirror of Life: Manoel de Oliveira 1996—2004, comprising ten features (and nine restorations debuting in North America) that will screen at BAM from March 28 to April 3.
Featuring John Malkovich, Michel Piccoli, Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni, and (of course) Ricardo Trêpa, the program finds Oliveira, who turned 90 during this time, in a period both decadent and reflective––note the Word and Utopia / Porto of My Childhood double-feature or 2001’s I’m Going Home––while the likes of A Talking Picture observe stresses and dangers of a fast-changing world. Certain titles are rare enough that I’ve still not even seen them, and I hope you join me in discovering these later, little-shared films of an incomparable talent.
Anxiety
Fri, Mar 28 at 7PM, Wed, Apr 2 at 7PM
Oliveira’s 1998 anthology boasts a fascinating mirrored structure rooted in the exploration of existential identity. In “The Immortals,” adapted from a Helder Prista Monteiro play, two famous doctors, an 80-year-old father and his 60-year-old son, contemplate senility and death. “Suzy,” derived from an Antonio Patricio story, is set in the 1930s as a young courtesan dies on the operating table, while “Mother of the River” is spawned from an Agustina Bessa-Luis fable about eternal life. Anxiety was selected as the Portuguese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 71st Academy Awards.
Party
Fri, Mar 28 at 9:30PM, Mon, Mar 31 at 4:30PM
In Oliveira’s 1996 comedy-drama, a battle of the sexes comes to blows on the Azorean island of San Miguel when Rogério (a young man with old money) and his enigmatic wife Leonor host a garden party. Among the intriguing guests are an older couple comprising the philosophical Irene and debauched Michel. When the group reconvenes at their villa years later, one of the four proves strong, one weak, and two must choose in this crackling, witty work starring the renowned French character actor Michel Piccoli (Topaz, Belle de Jour) and prolific Greek actress Irene Papas (The Guns of Navarone, Zorba the Greek).
Word and Utopia + Porto of My Childhood
Sat, Mar 29 at 2PM, Wed, Apr 2 at 4:30PM
Two films from 2000 and 2001 find Oliveira excavating the past via his biography of a 17th-century priest and a deeply personal homage to Oliveira’s own hometown of Porto.
Voyage To The Beginning Of The World
Sat, Mar 29 at 4:30PM
Oliveira takes an autobiographical turn with this portrait of a film director named Manoel—played by the iconic Marcello Mastroianni in his final on-screen appearance—who is shooting a film in Portugal. During a break, the French-born Portuguese actor Afonso (himself inspired by French actor Yves Afonso) visits his father’s birthplace with the director and two fellow actors. Their journey takes them to Alto Minho in the north, where they look back on rural Portugal and recount the memories of a lifetime.
The Letter
Sat, Mar 29 at 6:45PM, Tue, Apr 1 at 4:30PM
This 1999 drama centers on Catherine, a beautiful, melancholy young woman married to a devoted physician for whom she feels only mild affection. Unexpectedly falling for poet and performance artist Pedro Abrunhosa, Catherine faces excruciating decisions about her future, especially as her husband’s health rapidly declines. Loosely based on Madame de Lafayette’s 1678 novel The Princess of Cleves, The Letter was critically acclaimed, earning the Jury Prize at Cannes in 1999.
A Talking Picture
Sat, Mar 29 at 9:15PM, Tue, Apr 1 at 7PM
Eight-year-old Maria and her history professor mother embark on an ocean cruise from Portugal to Bombay, India. As three mysterious and glamorous women board the ship, their picturesque journey turns more tense and complex. Starring the great Catherine Deneuve, John Malkovich, and Irene Papas in her final appearance, A Talking Picture is “a potent and troubling meditation on the state of Western society” (San Francisco Chronicle).
The Uncertainty Principle
Sun, Mar 30 at 2PM, Tue, Apr 1 at 9:15PM
This narratively complex work by a 93-year-old Oliveria follows a widow who remarries and starts a family after losing her place among the elites. Like several of Oliveira’s works, The Uncertainty Principle adapts renowned Portuguese author Agustina Bessa-Luis and stars many members of the filmmaker’s coterie, among them Leonor Baldaque, Leonor Silveira, and Isabel Ruth.
I’m Going Home
Sun, Mar 30 at 4:45PM, Wed, Apr 2 at 9:30PM
In his dressing room after a performance, distinguished theater actor Gilbert Valence (Piccoli) learns his wife, daughter, and son-in-law have all been killed in a car accident. Over time, life regains some semblance of normalcy as he takes care of his orphaned grandson, strolls the streets of Paris, frequents his favorite café, and returns to the stage. But when an American film director (John Malkovich) casts him against type in an English-language production of James Joyce’s Ulysses, Valence struggles to master the dialogue and his own emotions. Irresistible in its poignancy and charm, this radiant wonder also stars the legendary Catherine Deneuve and features stunning footage of Paris.
The Fifth Empire
Sun, Mar 30 at 6:45PM, Mon, Mar 31 at 9:15PM
In 2004, a 96-year-old Oliveira directed his 25th feature: an adaptation of José Régio’s historical epic The Fifth King, about a boy ruler—based on the real-life King Sebastião—who plans to make Portugal the world’s fifth empire. Laden with rich dialogue and replete with palace intrigue and scheming talk of world dominion, Oliveira’s film features a gorgeously ornate castle and stand-out lead performance from the director’s own grandson Ricardo Trêpa.