Raul Ruiz’s, Mysteries of Lisbon, a masterful adaptation of the eponymous nineteenth-century Portuguese novel (by Camilo Castelo Branco), evokes the complex intertwined narratives of Victor Hugo and Charles Dickens. The core story centers on Joao, the bastard child of an ill-fated romance between two members of the aristocracy who are forbidden to marry, and his quest to discover the truth of his parentage. But this is just the start of an engrossing tale that follows a multitude of characters whose fates conjoin, separate and then rejoin again over three decades in Portugal, Spain, France and Italy.
Now available for the first time in the US in the expanded, six-episode miniseries version that originally aired in 2011.
NYFF 2010 Official Selection