Mysteries Of Lisbon

‘Mysteries of Lisbon’ is the story of fourteen-year old Pedro da Silva (João Luís Arrais), an orphan who lives at a boarding school in Lisbon, Portugal in the early 19th century. The school is run by Father Dinis (Adriano Luz), who helps Pedro in his search for his origins. Spread over Portugal, France, Italy and Brazil, the film shifts back and forth in time, toying with our need for explanations and clarification. Father Dinis reveals little by little to Pedro of his past, who soon becomes acquainted with his mother Ângela (Maria João Bastos). He learns of her unhappy marriage to the Count of Santa Bárbara (Albano Jerónimo). In the second half of the film, Father Dinis reveals more of his own differing careers and pasts that preceded his priesthood. ‘Mysteries of Lisbon’ is a complex maze of stories, with a narrative that goes back and forth over some 50-odd years against a background of war and social intrigue. There seems to be at least five narrators, people keep changing their names and identities, over a daunting 4. 5 hours of running time. The boundaries between the conscious and unconscious are key, but don’t expect to understand this labyrinthian film. By the end, you are left wondering if Pedro’s story was his own invention. Sometimes you get lost in a film and enjoy the experience, ‘Mysteries of Lisbon’ was not one of them. The Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz uses distancing techniques throughout the film, some characters are framed only in long shots almost all the time. We can’t be sure exactly what they look like, which adds to the ambiguity. The first half of the film was fascinating, and it is a beautiful and unusually shot film. But it started to lose its power to intrigue you, the story becomes so unnecessarily complicated and implausible that you slowly lose the commitment to care about João or anybody else. This is a film that dealt with identity, suffering, human relations, love and faith. I wasn’t expecting any answers or even a conclusion from ‘Mysteries of Lisbon’, but by the end of a very long and arduous film you did feel cheated.