Sadly Over-hyped

Amateur movie with Big budget

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

I believe this movie attempts to reset Eça de Queiroz's 1874 short story of the same name in 2009 Lisbon.The movie came off as rather awkward and unbelievable. The elements are quite ludicrous: guy falls in love at first sight, uncle (most ridiculous of all characters) rejects the relationship for no reason at all, girl goes out with him behind her family's approval (even though she had no idea who she was going out with). You never connect with any of the characters. Anyways, the story goes on, too slowly, but no less strange.

This 2009 film, by the master filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira, is a rather short but captivating story. A man begins to recount his passionate tale to a fellow passenger as they travel aboard a train.Then in flashback, as he narrates, you can see the story unfold. How he became obsessed with a young blond woman, waving a fan, in a building window directly across the street from his office. You see the lengths he went to, risking everything, to be with her, and the unexpected conclusion to the love saga.I felt the film maintained the viewer's interest consistently as the story progressed. Therefore, I found it to be quite engrossing.De Oliveira I believe is now over 100 years old, which makes the film even more remarkable.

Reading the other reviews helped me to put this film in context. If you watch the film cold you will be baffled and not sure how to react. You must understand that the film is humorous and a parody.The film is based on a nineteenth century short story (Eça de Queiroz). But it is a parody on nineteenth century story telling (and life). As such it is humorous and entertaining. A clerk Macário (Ricardo Trêpa) sees a girl Luisa (Catarina Wallerstein) out of his window... he must marry her (Yes this is funny in today's world). His boss also his uncle will not allow him to be married. The clerk goes off to find his fortune to support his love. He prevails but is swindled of his fortune. However, in the end his uncle forgives him and supports the marriage. As he is about to wed he discovers his wife is a thief. That ruins it for him! (Of course Wallerstein is drop dead gorgeous so that kind of moralistic ending is so unlikely--more humor).If you don't understand this as humor (parody a stuffy idiotic Victorian story in modern times) it may appear surrealistic or too arty. The film is beautifully shot --it was too close up--this has to do with the parody too (I am assuming).Watch it and then figure it out (like I did) that will give you the most mileage.

I've given this film a respectful score, if only because it is like being privileged to visit a grande dame in her home, where everything is correct and so boring you want to tell it point by point to your friends, who you hope are aware that you are not boring yourself. And I'd like to suppose the film is similarly ironic about its bland characters (a lover in the Cape Verde Islands who writes out for his young woman their physical geography, as my encyclopedia would call it). Its argument may be about the boring eternity of the upper bourgeoisie even in our world where the same fine things are now paid for in euros. But the film may fall into its own trap, as with the titles that let a conductor go seat by seat in a first-class train car checking tickets while credits very slowly appear. Viewer, your attention might stray to what may be outside the windows, but notice the lady with the pearl necklace, for she will be the perfect audience for this touching story. The best hope for irony might be a poem or two of Pessoa's, even if recited by a distinguished actor in evening dress.