José e Pilar

The Portuguese Nobel Laureate José Saramago was never an easy writer or agreeable public figure. Moreover, his political inclinations, a mixture of Iberism and Communism, were quite the opposite of mine. So I must admit that I sat down to watch the documentary with some degree of prejudice.

However the opening and the quality of the photography captivated me immediately and I could not stop wandering how the Director managed to make such a remarkably enjoyable documentary with such persona.

It certainly helped the fact that his young wife – Pilar – is such a lively and interesting person. She is the personification of the vibrant qualities we find among modern Spaniards. But what captivated me more was how she could devote herself so intensely to an elderly and sick husband.

The Director, being himself an admirer of José, did not attempt to color or capture only the rosy moments of the Portuguese writer. He gives a truthful and yet endearing image of the couple.

The secret probably lies in the way he manages to show that love knows no age barriers. Undoubtedly, this is an Oscar-winning candidate.

José e Pilar isn't (just?) a documentary, it's a well crafted story that no one wrote, that unfolded as the 4 years of filming passed by.

You won't just see the Nobel award winner José Saramago, his love for writing and the tremendous respect for the people he wrote for. You will see first hand and for real how two people can be so in sync, so complementary and yet so different.

And how life spins more and faster than the Earth. How some people actually do live forever. And how people sometimes take a long time to find their calling and their true love.

Corny as it may sound said by me, you'll find nothing but beauty in this film.

A true love story indeed and a real one. The Portuguese novelist José Saramago (1998 Nobel Prize winner) knew in the second half of his life, by chance, the Spanish journalist Pilar Del Rio, more than 20 years younger than him and they fell in love with each other almost at once. They lived together till his death in 2010. From a certain moment on they went to live in Lanzarote (Canary Islands) since he found much more support from the Spanish authorities than from the Portuguese ones at the time. They eventually married each other. This movie shows the last years of their lives in a documentary form with great quality. The images speak for themselves without the need of great explanations and the dialogues between the couple and with other people are so natural, spontaneous and true and supported by a very intelligent shooting and cut that we can feel how that relationship between novelist and wife is illuminated by a true love, a love that doesn't have great visual expression in manners and attitudes but whose depth we can feel in the constant cooperation and assistance Pilar gives to José not only personal but also and very important, in his writing activities, being simultaneously a careful and loving wife and an efficient secretary and public relations. Thus she contributed very much to his literary success and we can also feel his gratitude for that. This documentary real love story will touch you more than many fiction movies of the same kind.

It's all very easy to reduce a documentary like this to just that: a documentary. I like to think of it as a window, nay, a door. I'm Portuguese and, beside a theatre play my dad bought for me and made me stand in line to have it signed by Saramago when I was a child, I never managed to enjoy reading his books. Loved the stories, struggled with the novels.

So, it was a huge surprise when I discovered this man, playful and witty as dense and morose; when I discovered his wife, thus far a very behind-the-scenes person, very outspoken but seldom seen; and the mere thought of having heaps of footage and manage to edit years of shadowing the couple to a mere two hours, seamlessly stitched together.

I couldn't help but feel deeply moved by the episodes the film depicts, the portraits the camera takes all the way through time and the love story between a rather senior Portuguese writer and a rather younger Spanish journalist. In Portugal, we say, 'love knows no age.' It does, actually. However, it knows no time. And that's what 'José And Pilar' tells us.

I fell compelled to send a copy to all my friends who, as I, live outside Portugal. It really is that good. Watch it and make sure you take it all in.

José Saramago's figure was outstanding. One had to read his books till the end. But, most fascinating was his relationship with a more outstanding woman, Pilar del Rio. This tender documentary really shows us the ties that put them together along the years. A love story that outfits time and space. A real thing. The director shows us the daily routine of José and Pilar and the tenderness of gestures, beyond words. One understands very well what they felt for each other from the day they first met till the death of Saramago and the desire of Pilar to fulfill a true wish: to have his ashes divided in Lanzarote and Portugal, the founding of a Foundation in Lisboa, and the visits to his birthplace Azinheira do Ribatejo.