Jornal da Mostra
Nº 356 > 28ª Mostra > 02/09/2005
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Venice 2005 - Magic mirror, renewed enchantment with Manoel de Oliveira in his prime at the age of 96
“The Soul of the Rich”, a novel by Agustina Bessa-Luís, portuguese master film maker Manoel de Oliveira's favorite writer, has been made into a film that is spell-binding and sheer delight – Magic Mirror. The new impact-film made by Manoel de Oliveira in his prime, at age 96, was shown in a world premiere at the 62nd Venice Film Festival. Presented in competition, the film was applauded by public and critics alike.As in A Talking Picture, Oliveira's greatest success, several languages blend in the quest for truths that, in history and in time, make a myth of civilizations. The spell is cast by aristocratic Alfreda (Leonor Silveira) and her Biblical fixation: she awaits a new apparition of the Virgin Mary. As can be observed in the history of theology itself and in religious beliefs, humanity is indeed pretentious in assuming direct contact with the Gods.
In her fixation and untiring wait for the Virgin Mary's visit, Alfreda finds support in her husband (Duarte de Almeida), also in search, in his own way, of redemption. He spends his fortune educating youngsters as musical virtuosi. Alfreda pines away physically and seeks further support from an English professor of theology (Michel Piccoli) and counsellors of faith - a priest played by Brazilian Lima Duarte and a nun - Spanish actress Marisa Paredes.
Luis Miguel Cintra is in the role of a scoundrel who, together with a fellow ex-prison inmate, Ricardo Trepa (Oliveira's nephew), plans to stage an apparition of the Virgin Mary to keep the glimmer of hope in the dying aristocrat alive - so that she will at last catch a glimpse of the long-awaited light at the end of the tunnel of life.
Oliveira uses the second part of the trilogy of the book – “The Uncertainty Principle”, by Agustina Bessa-Luiz, as one in an act of penance - an extreme pilgrimage for the redemption of penitent souls. He devises a satyrical setting of faith and contrition. There is no other contemporary thinker in cinema as skillful as Oliveira in revolutionizing the use of words to subvert ordered thought and our uncertainties. The sublimation of the eternal is an irrational search and is again in shock in Magic Mirror through the crude, sad universe of rational beings. Master Oliveira, hallowed be thy name - the greatest blessing to film lovers.
