Description:Effortlessly gliding from graceful travelogue to playful star-driven caprice to trenchant cautionary fable, A TALKING PICTURE is "a majestic and profound work by one of the greatest of all living filmmakers" (Chicago Tribune). Writer-director Manoel de Oliveira (I'M GOING HOME, VOYAGE TO THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD) has creatEffortlessly gliding from graceful travelogue to playful star-driven caprice to trenchant cautionary fable, A TALKING PICTURE is "a majestic and profound work by one of the greatest of all living filmmakers" (Chicago Tribune). Writer-director Manoel de Oliveira (I'M GOING HOME, VOYAGE TO THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD) has created a valedictory cinematic masterpiece that balances timeless beauty with audacious theatricality in order to explore the fanciful myths and grim ironies that define Western Civilization at a millennial crossroads. In july of 2001, eight-year-old Maria Joana embarks on an ocean cruise from her native Portugal to Bombay, India accompanied by her mother, history professor Rosa Maria (Leonor Silveira). But as three mysterious and glamorous women, each played by a world-renowned film legend, board first at Marseilles (Catherine Deneuve - UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG), Naples (Bernardo Bertolucci muse Stefania Sandrelli) and Athens (Irene Papas - THE TROJAN WOMEN, ANTIGONE), their picturesque journey begins to grow in tension and complexity. When ship captain John Walesa (John Malkovich - BEING JOHN MALKOVICH) hosts a unique summit between these three international graces, the table is literally set to transform A TALKING PICTURE from a genial melancholic history lesson into an incendiary contemporary news flash. Deftly, lovingly and confidently crafting a film of subtle rhythms, deep conviction and shocking contrasts, 96 year old Manoel de Oliveira "appears unstoppable" (Boston Globe) and conclusively demonstrates he is "a master of the medium" (The New York Times). "With rare eloquence," A TALKING PICTURE "speaks to our hearts and minds about modern quandaries and eternal truths." (Chicago Tribune)... (more)(less)
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Sao Paulo Int'l Film Festival