A Divina Comédia (1991)

Director:

Manoel de Oliveira

Writers:

Manoel de Oliveira (scenario)
Manoel de Oliveira (dialogue) ...
(more)

Release Date:

11 October 1991 (Portugal)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In a mental institution the patients see themselves as people like Jesus, Lázaro, Marta, Maria, Adão, Eve, Sonia, Raskolnikov, Aliosha e Ivan Karamasov, a Philosopher, a Profet, Santa Teresa d'Avila, reciting the Divine Comedy. |

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Maria de Medeiros	...	Sónia
Miguel Guilherme	...	Raskolnikov
Luís Miguel Cintra	...	Prophet
Mário Viegas	...	Philosopher
Leonor Silveira	...	Eva
Diogo Dória	...	Ivan
Paulo Matos	...	Jesus
José Wallenstein	...	Aliosha
Ruy Furtado	...	Director
Carlos Gomes	...	Adao
Luís Lima Barreto	...	Pharisee
Laura Soveral	...	Elena Ivanovna
Júlia Buisel	...	Maria
Cremilda Gil	...	Isabel Ivanovna
Miguel Yeco	...	Lázaro
Nuno Melo	...	Male Nurse
João Romão	...	Male Nurse
Maria João Pires	...	Marta
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ricardo Trêpa	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Manoel de Oliveira

Writing credits
Manoel de Oliveira		(scenario)
Manoel de Oliveira		(dialogue)
Fyodor Dostoevsky		(extracts) (as Dostoievski) and
José Régio		(extracts) and
Friedrich Nietzsche		(extracts) (as Nietzsche)

Produced by
Paulo Branco	....	producer
Claude-Éric Poiroux	....	co-producer

Cinematography by
Ivan Kozelka

Film Editing by
Manoel de Oliveira
Valérie Loiseleux

Production Design by
Zé Branco

Costume Design by
Lurdes Rocha

Makeup Department
Ilda Campino	....	makeup artist
Ana Escada	....	assistant makeup artist
Alda Matos	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Camilo 'Tuxa' João	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Luís Campos	....	trainee assistant director
José Maria Vaz da Silva	....	second assistant director
Manuel João Águas	....	first assistant director

Art Department
António José	....	carpenter
Manuel Lobão	....	assistant decorator
António José Matos	....	carpenter (as António Matos)
Miguel Mendes	....	assistant decorator

Sound Department
Gita Cerveira	....	sound
Jean-Paul Loublier	....	sound mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
João 'Musga' Carlos Aguiar	....	electrician (as João Carlos Aguiar)
Mário Castanheira	....	electrician
João Guerra	....	second assistant camera
Victor Nunes	....	assistant camera
José Manuel Rodrigues	....	electrician
Vasco Sequeira	....	grip
Francisco Vilar	....	grip

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Dina Teresa	....	assistant costume designer

Editorial Department
Ana de Lurdes	....	negative cutter
Angela Melo	....	assistant editor
Francisco Villa-Lobos	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Maria João Abelho	....	production secretary
Pedro Bento	....	production assistant
Júlia Buisel	....	continuity
Fernanda Costa	....	production accountant
P. João Marques	....	biblical consultant
João Montalverne	....	assistant continuity
João Montalverne	....	production assistant
Carla Pereira	....	production assistant
Luísa Perestrello	....	public relations
Teresa Tainha	....	assistant continuity
Francisco Villa-Lobos	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Madragoa Filmes (co-production)
• Gemini Films (co-production)
• 2001 Audiovisuel (co-production)
• Radiotelevisão Portuguesa (RTP) (in association with)
• Metropolis Film World Sales (in association with) (as Metropolis Zurich)
• Secretaria de Estado da Cultura (SEC) (support)
• Instituto Português de Cinema (IPC) (support)
• Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (support)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (support) (Paris)

Distributors

• Forum Distribution (1992) (France) (theatrical)
• Kinokuniya (2003) (Japan) (DVD) (box set)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

140 min

Country:

Portugal | France | Switzerland

Language:

Portuguese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade)

Filming Locations:

Casa de Camilo, Sao Miguel de Ceide, Vila Nova de Famalicao, Portugal

Company:

Madragoa Filmes

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Candy (2006)

A divine comedy, indeed

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This was my first contact, a few years ago, with the work of portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira, and I was completely astonished. The movie is given to a lot of interpretations, and the way I see it, it presents in it several extremes of the kind of people that in fact exists in our society. The story takes place in an insane institution, where all the "clients" believe they are an historical character. So we have a couple who believes to be Adam and Eve, we have another who sees himself as Jesus, another one wants to die so he can return to life as Lazarus did. But the characters whose dialogues I enjoyed the most where the prophet and the philosopher. This one is a none believer who is always discussing with the prophet on the theme of god. The prophet spends the movie carrying a book which he says has the truth in it, it's like the fith gospel. In the end (and I saw that as the true message of the movie), we find out that the book is totally empty. Just blanke pages. If the mankind history was almost always made by wars in the basis of books which had supposed truths in it, and those wars caused a lot of pain in lots of people troughout the times, than we should write no longer. The true gospel is in the good actions, not in a book with written

things that can be interpreted in many ways, even lethal ways... Think about it... and watch the movie to help you.