Mistérios de Lisboa

This is another Portuguese film inspired by classic national literature. Based on a work by Camilo Castelo Branco, the film follows a Catholic priest, named Father Dinis, as he encounters mysterious characters and unravels the romantic and tragic plots of several people in mid-19th century society.

Although I love Camilo Castelo Branco's literature, I must admit that I have never read this book, and I regret it. I don't know to what extent Carlos Saboga's script is faithful to the original work, but the way it unfolds, with lots of dialogues and descriptions, and a novelistic plot in keeping with the taste of the time, is something that sounds familiar to me, and very much in line with what Camilo would have written.

Directed by Raúl Ruiz, the film is extensive and has been divided into two parts. Perhaps for this reason, it gave rise to a television miniseries when it aired on national TV. I believe this was due to the unwillingness of both, the director and the screenwriter, to cut the material, anticipating the violent criticism from the most purist core of the "Camillians". The director sought to create suspense by choosing deeply dark settings and filming locations, where light and shadows create the ideal environment for an additional dose of psychological tension. However, this hasn't always worked out well: for example, although I love Quinta da Ribafria, in Sintra, I think it has become such a common filming location that it would have been preferable to find another space that was less recognizable to the public eye. And the absence of sound effects or soundtrack, combined with the huge amount of dialogue, give the film an excessively heavy and loaded tone that induces more sleep than dramatic tension.

Throughout the film, I felt like I was almost in a box at the Royal Theatre of São Carlos during an opera: in addition to the wide distance it creates between itself and the audience, the film has a colorful plot, worthy of a Brazilian soap opera, with crossed loves and betrayals, adultery and hidden children, poetic justice and secrets carried to the deathbed. Personally, I really like something like this, but the film would benefit a lot if it weren't so distant, if it gave us the opportunity to get involved with the characters and care about them, instead of being impassive spectators of their lives and, not infrequently, their deaths.

Finally, a word about the cast: composed mostly of high-quality Portuguese actors, with consolidated careers on national and international television (for example, Ricardo Pereira and Maria João Bastos have already done several television jobs in Brazil), it is a competent cast with everything it needs to carry out its mission to a worthy end. Of course, Adriano Luz is the most eloquent and complete actor in this film, and he does not disappoint us, providing us with quality work. However, Maria João Bastos cannot be ignored in any way, even though her character and her story are so dramatic that the actress actually seems like an operatic soprano in dialogue. Ricardo Pereira evolved a lot as an actor during his time in Brazil, and now he reaps the fruits of his growth by giving us a good work in his homeland. Afonso Pimentel, João Arrais and Albano Jerónimo are equally competent as secondary characters.

Padre Dinis is the keeper of the mysteries of Lisbon. It took me a while to understand the title till Pedro says there's no mystery Padre Dinis can't uncover. He is ubiquitous in this whole narrative web of intertwining destinies.

It's a handsomely made movie, mostly static and contemplative, with plenty of exposition and back and forth and twists and turns and reveals, but it reads like a 17-18th century book or a Gothic novel sometimes, especially in Part I, with the sadistic and cruel husband torturing the poor woman to avenge his hurt ego, only to be punished just as cruelly by fate and repent his odious deeds, and the hidden and then revealed child out of wedlock and the mother deciding to live out her days in a convent to atone for her sins. There are also several duels, more misery due to either unrequited or illicit love, adultery and such scandalous things recounted as very matter of fact. It is your average novel of the era, I mean it practically has everything in there. It is based on a novel of the era and it shows. It has a pronounced soapy character, just elevated by the production quality and the decent acting.

I rather liked the first part and it kept me captivated, being fully aware of the extremely cliche storyline. But I succumbed to boredom during the second part and frankly found it very difficult to empathize with any of the characters. Maybe Padre Dinis was the only one who still kept my interest, possibly because he always stays in the shadow of other characters much more flawed than him. I liked the variety of costumes and hairstyles covering several eras, they looked relatively accurate to me, although I couldn't say, I'm no expert.

It it also very long, so brace yourself. Unless you love it, in which case it won't be a problem. Or if you see the serialized version.