Customer Reviews

A Talking Picture

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira at age 96 concocted this strange little film that suggests and artist/philosopher glance over his shoulder about all of civilization and the development of culture and language and then a rather ominous look toward the future. Part travelogue and part captured conversations this film may not be for the movie going public as much as for those who yearn to expand their cultural horizons. It may wander around and lose focus, but it is such an elegant little journey that it bears watching repeatedly.

The time is July 2001. Rosa Maria (Leonor Silveira) is a history professor in Lisbon and takes her young daughter Maria Joana (Felipe de Almeida) on a Mediterranean cruise to Bombay, India where the two will meet up with her husband. They board a cruise ship and for the first hour of the film mother gives daughter a verbal history of teh ports of call. The ship stops at Marseilles (where the first strange famous lady - Catherine Deneuve - boards) and after a walk through the streets of the port, dining on bouillabaise and learning about the Greek origins of the port as an introduction to the world of Greek civilization, the two return to ship. The next stop is Naples (second strange lady - Stefania Sandrelli - boards) and the two wander Naples and journey to Pompeii to see the ancient ruins, mixing information of history and myth, the warmly rich instruction from the mother shares. Then at Athens (third strange lady - Irene Pappas - boards) and the two visit the Parthenon and the Acropolis aided by the friendly information by a Greek Orthodox priest (Nikos Hatzopoulos) who illuminates the sites as well as the differences between Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic religions and symbols. The ship's next stop is Egypt where the two view the pyramids and chat with a fellow Portuguese actor (Luís Miguel Cintra). The final stops include Istanbul, where the cross between Muslim and Christian faith is explained using the great mosque as example, and Tangiers where the two shop and ship's Captain Walesa (John Malkovich) secretly buys a doll for Maria Joana.

Finally back aboard ship Captain Walesa invites the three famous women to his table and there is an extended conversation among the four, each speaking her/his native tongue. This plays like a string quartet as the various melodies are in French, Italian, Greek and English, and the conversation surveys languages, the various cultures, and the joys of communication even in this 'Tower of Babel' setting. The Captain invites Rosa Maria and Maria Joana to this illustrious table the next evening and the Captain asks Irene Pappas to sing. During the song the Captain mysteriously leaves the table only to return with the quiet news that while in the last port terrorists placed time bombs on the ship and asks the passengers to prepare to evacuate the ship. The climax of the movie is jolting and to reveal the ending would destroy the joy of the story.

At first this beautifully photographed film (cinematographer Emmanuel Machuel) appears to be just exactly 'A Talking Picture' with all of the history and travelogue atmosphere. It is with the gradual introduction of the 'three Norns' and the American Captain's involvement that the message becomes more poignant and philosophical. Setting this story in the summer months exactly before the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in New York provides the chilling poignancy that makes this film not the simple tale it first appears. It serves as a shocking reminder how no matter how rich the history of our 'civilization' may be, it is fragile and tenuous in times such as these when random acts can destroy so much we hold precious. In Portuguese, French, Greek, Italian, and English with subtitles. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, May 05

WARNING: If you haven't seen this, be aware some other viewers have damn near spoiled the film by giving away too much. Proceed with caution.
But the film definitely has a message, and takes it's sweet time getting it across. That's OK, though; the pace is, as someone else said, as relaxing as a cruse. Granted, some things don't ring totally true, but that's OK; the film makes it point through its fundamental and total normalcy. I do think it ended a bit abruptly, however, despite the plot.

I am disappointed and quite annoyed that many dislike this film and other works by Manoel de Oliveira. This is a magnficient picture, one of Manoel's best, and it's really a deep, humanistic, and sad film about the current world situation and the world itself. The film is filled with beautiful shots, great dialogue, intelligence, charm, and thought provoking themes and culture, yet, most people (and many critics) intensely dislike this work. Perhaps after 2 decades of smug, aggressively cynical, "ironic", and arrogant attitudes in film and pop culture, people have suppressed their humanistic instincts, and that is the underlying reason that they cannot appreciate a film like this. It shows that people don't really change (a conclusion that this film comes to), and that we ignore history at our peril. We should be grateful that we have Manoel de Oliveira in our midst, a true treasure. He is 99 years old as of this writing (and is still making great films), and the fact that he is sharing his wisdom and sense of art with us should make us priviledged.

I think it takes a deep thinking intelligence to enjoy this movie. I saw it three times, and each time, I saw more in the movie that I'd missed before.

I homeschool an older child, and the movie is a treat as a tour of ancient Greece. This movie teaches a lot of facts, history and lore about the ancient world.

The first 2/3s of this movie is a visual treat. It is beautiful if you enjoy tours! It IS a walking tour with some meaningful commentary.

The last 1/3 of the movie is a dialogue. That's where a lot of folks get lost. If you've lived in Europe, you will appreciate it more. This long dialog DOES indeed have a purpose. It might seem a bit monotonous - but it is MEANT to. All the major Western cultures are represented - just talking about every day things, certainly not on gaurd. Life is just a bit boring, good - good food, plenty to eat, good company, no worries.

Then at the very end, it all comes together. Time to wake up. The problems of the middle east are spreading and encroaching on the safety and security of the west.

Watch it a second time - listen more closely to the religious overtones in the commentary. AHA!

It was a very thoughtful movie. Some people that don't like to think deeply or politically probably will not enjoy it to the full extent - but the tours are great for everyone.

For parents, other than almost hidden quick violent overtones at the end, there is no blood, no gore in this movie, no curse words.

It is July 2001, months before the September 11 attacks on the United States. Rose Maria (Leonor Silveira) and her daughter Maria Joana (Filipa de Almeida) are on their way to Bombay to meet Joana's father, who is a pilot. They take a cruise and arrive at such places as Marseilles, Athens and Naples. Rose Maria is a history teacher and loves the fact she is finally able to visit the places she is always teaching about. And she is fascinated by the people she meets and the customs she learns.

At first glance Manoel de Oliveira's "A Talking Picture" seems to be a travelogue piece showing us some of the most beautiful places on Earth. The movie doesn't seem to be about much yet I enjoyed watching the movie.

After you watch the movie try and think back to what happened in the movie. You'll find the movie tells a little story, but, it takes on big subjects. You may also enjoy the film because, like a cruise, it moves at a gentle, calm pace. There is almost something lyrical about the movie. The charm of seeing these destinations and meeting these characters was enough for me to want to finish watching the movie. Some in fact may become so bored with it they won't even wait until the end.

But what is "A Talking Picture" about and why does it matter that it takes place before September 11? Well you see the captain of the ship, John Walesa (John Malkovich) entertains three lovely ladies, all international beauties. They include Catherine Deneuve ("Belle de jour", "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" and Truffaut's "The Last Metro), Stefania Sandrelli (star of several Bertolucci films; "The Conformist", "Partner" and "1900", she also appeared in "La Chiave (AKA The Key)" and Irene Papas ("Z" and "Zorba the Greek"). These four people all speak different languages and yet they understand each other. They talk about world topics, such as politics. At this point in the film the movie addresses terrorism and has a chilling conclusion that makes the movie seem all too real.

I realize after watching the movie some may find the conclusion pointless and ask themselves what was this all about? But if you think it over you will see the movie has a universal message. And its appeal should not be limited to a selective audience.

The movie was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and is the lastest film from the now 96 year old Oliveira. I have yet to see any of his other films but I could tell just by watching this movie he is a man of extraordinary talent. I hope many of you come to enjoy this film as much or more so than I did.

Bottom-line: Granted the movie is not full of action and moves at a slow pace but it has a certain charm to it that won me over. There is something gentle and calm about the movie. Plus the locations are amazing.

Fortunately, this movie is so boring --at times rather childish without childlike charm--that not many viewers will stick it out to it's ridiculous end.

It is NOT educational as some reviewers claim. Historical "facts" about some of the places visited are, in fact, half-truths or outright distortions of historical evidence. For example, while viewing the pyramids in Egypt, we are told that they were built by Jewish slaves. If we Google "who built the pyramids," we see the absurdity of this assertion. The mass immigration of Jews to Egypt did not occur until a thousand years after the pyramids were built. The identity of the actual builders is difficult to ascertain, but the historical evidence that exists suggests that the workers--many of them willing and dedicated--were certainly not foreign or necessarily enslaved.

Interestingly enough, the the most emotional misstatement of the film again casts a bad light on the people native to the Middle East, the Arabs--Irene Pappas makes a peculiarly overwrought and out of context statement blaming the Arabs for burning the library of Alexandria. In fact, historians have blamed Christians or Romans for this tragedy as well as possibly Moslems...it could be all three, no one knows for sure.

In the midst of a pseudo philosophical conversation at the ship's captain's table, one of the women veers completely off the "topic" to deliver a bumper sticker explanation of "what's wrong" with the arabs.

At the end of the movie, all this gratis arab/moslem smashing makes sense. The weird (vaguely perverted) captain whispers to the gals at his table that bombs placed by arab terrorists have been found on the boat and asks them to stay seated until the announcement is made,at which time they are to walk calmly and slowly to the lifeboats.

The mother and child find themselves stranded on the exploding ship because the child ran back to their cabin to retrieve a little arab doll she promises to protect. THE MESSAGE:Get it?! Arabs are bad and only cause disaster for anyone who likes them. This is propaganda not drama, and clumsy, bigoted propaganda at that.

A tepid, awkward travelogue interrupted by tepid, awkward dinner-table philosophy and put to rest by an awkward ending apparently intended to imbue the film with meaning through tragedy. The only success in the film was capturing John Malkovich's expression at the end of the movie and holding that one successful moment frozen through the credits.

This film,"A Talking Picture",is literally that,a film-travelogue of a Portuguese Professor and her daughter ,who engage in a history lesson while the two travel around the Mediterranean,the cradle of the civilization that Europe emerged from,while they visit its major landmarks on a Mediterranean cruise.The mother explains to her daughter the meanings of `myth', 'civilization', 'nature','mosque' etc. the tour stops off at Pompeii, the Acropolis, and the Pyramids. Throughout, little Maria Joana acts as blank, baffled slate, soaking in the contradictions of history. Poised to the point of stiltedness, the parent-child exchanges are strictly informational: the inquisitive girl asks leading questions ("Which Middle Ages are we in now?"), and her impassive mother disgorges reams of encyclopedic dialogue.Jean Luc Godard drew heavily on this in his latest film,Film Socialisme. This is a straightforward riff on a Mediterranean cruise as history.I could not take the mother and daughter relationship as anything but symbolical,a hook to put the film's clothing on.No mother however clever talks to her daughter in this way.Similarly later on in the film when the Captain of the ship (Malkovitch),talks with the 3 famous women at his table and they all speak in their own tongues-Greek,Italian,English and French-I did not feel any discrepancy, merely poetic license,as they all seemed to understand each other.Love,women,politics and language are the topics presided over by the effete sea-captain.Europe used to have people who spoke more than one language.There is a sense of nostalgic innocence about a timeless beauty that no longer exists.A fable.A millennial crossroads of Western Civilization explodes into a contemporary newsflash.

But it is not only the shock of the film's ending that exposes the deficiency of any such notions, the false sense of security that we, as viewers, share with the film's protagonists. All along the way, as Maria Joana and her mother, Rosa Maria (Leonor Silveira), disembark at successive stops on their odyssey, we begin to discern - in the film's dispassionate loquaciousness, in the director's deliberately static camerawork, in the subtle and not-so-subtle ironies that colour the intellectual colloquy between mother and child as they navigate A Talking Picture`s otherwise childless world - a subversive undercurrent that gradually turns the rich pageant into a full-blown jeremiad, a bittersweet goodbye to the West and its legacy.The little girl's journey is given primacy,before the ship's arrival at Aden,in the Arab world.The West seems old and childless:the elderly fisherman,the Orthodox priest,the actor in Egypt,the 3 distinguished ladies,the captain.Maria Joanna is burdened with an awesome responsibility as the single vessel capable of preserving the legacy of the past for the future.Like the small dog who becomes the anchor of the boat,her daunting destiny leaves us close to the edge.In her hands the future is fragile.Her serious mien seems freighted with preconscious knowledge of the task's enormity.Stories of heroes, protectors and goddesses are presented,receding mistily into the realms of ruin,myth and legend:mermaids,muses,the myth of the statue of Athena inside the Parthenon that inspired the wisdom of philosophers,playwrights, musicians. Who protects Greece now?With the face of the broken Sphinx in Egypt,we sense a civilization that no longer believes in its own protective myths.The camera lingers on the monuments when people are gone,mute,abandoned by history. Globalised English,not the original Greek dominate,marginalizing culture by commerce.

The closer exchange between East and West e.g. the Suez Canal,has put them on a collision course.Reversing Ulysses journey home westward away from war,the mother and her daughter travel eastwards towards the absent father, towards war,the spectre of September 11th in front of them.In this Homeric reversal speech becomes a decadent luxury devoid of action.Words have become descriptive,as Helen says at dinner,"No Civilization lasts forever".

The air of naivete that annoyed some of the viewers of this film was probably intended by the filmmaker to evoke the nearly universal expectation that peaceful behavior will protect us against violence.

It is to the filmmaker's credit that he also provides us with a moving survey of the notable accomplishments of several thousand years of civilized endeavor. He reminds us of what there is to lose.

We are further meant to be taken by the voices and thoughts and histories of the three women. They are oracles who gently dispute with one another, giving us a nuanced view of our modern world. They and the captain epitomize civilized and tolerant discourse.

The filmmaker is skilled enough to know that he must also make us care about the professor and her child. If we do not care, we will not be receptive to his terminal message.

This film is an eloquent rejoinder to the monomania of true believers. Its power derives from its dramatization of the fragility of our world of nearly common values.

It is a beautiful prayer for tolerance. The freeze frame on the captain's horror-stricken face shows us what the filmmaker urges us to understand and remember.

A Portuguese woman and her young daughter take a Mediterranean cruise ship while absorbing ancient historic sites and artifacts. Slow moving and clinical, the emotionless dialogue and blase photography forces the viewer to concentrate on the history lesson of western civilization, which evolves into a thematic comfort zone of it's own, until the preposterous climax, sure to incite emotion in the unsuspecting, and sedated viewer. "A Talking Picture" leaves one speechless.