The Mysteries of Lisbon

Sunday 9th December 2:00 PM

Synopsis

Raoul Ruiz died last year having directed over 100 films, many of which did not reach Britain. He was born in Chile and was inspired by authors such as Gabriel García Márquez, who wrote complicated stories moving through time and place...and back again. Today we have Ruiz’s last movie, which gives us four and half hours to cover much of the 18th and 19th centuries, following the life of Pedro da Silva, flying backwards and forwards in a series of flashbacks. He
starts out as a young orphan in a home and we learn he is the son of a rich noblewoman...or possibly not.

We learn more and more of his life and others around him via a series of unreliable narrators so that we are never sure if what we learn is true; as in life, others see your life through their own. Even the characters themselves change from scene to scene.

NOTE This film will begin at 2.00pm and there will be an interval..don't let its length put you off!

Critics

“Ruiz displays a mastery of cinematic and storytelling technique that ensures this epic saga remains utterly engrossing”

David Parkinson, Empire

Links

Trailer