Le bassin de J.W. (1997)

Two actors performing in Strindberg's "Inferno" as God and Lucifer, find themselves competing in real life as well. One of them, Henrique, has spiritual obsession with John Wayne and his ... See full summary »

Director:

João César Monteiro

Writers:

August Strindberg (text "Coram Populo" and "Petit Cathécisme à l'usage de la classe inférieure"), Pier Paolo Pasolini (text "Descriptions de descriptions"),

Stars:

Hugues Quester, Pierre Clémenti, Joana Azevedo

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hugues Quester	...	Jean de Dieu, Lucifer
Pierre Clémenti	...	Paul, Henrique
Joana Azevedo	...	Catarina, Ariane
Jean Watan	...	Henrique, João de Deus
João César Monteiro	...	Dieu, Max Monteiro (as João, o Obsucuro)
Manuela de Freitas	...	Puta
Graziella Delerm	...	Marianne
Luís Pavão	...	Critico de Teatro
Alexandre Melo	...	Jornalista da tê-que-não-vê
Myriam Szabo	...	Bailarina
Pipo Tartaglia	...	Violonista Cego
Mariya Makhanko	...	Uriel
Inês Barros	...	Egyn
Sofia Sousa	...	Amaimon
Gracinda Nave	...	Outros Anjos e Arcanjos, Samael

Storyline

Two actors performing in Strindberg's "Inferno" as God and Lucifer, find themselves competing in real life as well. One of them, Henrique, has spiritual obsession with John Wayne and his way of walking. He and de Dieu, his fellow actor who plays Lucifer and also directs the Strindberg play, engage in a philosophical and spiritual tug-of-war, especially when they meet an author named God, who has plans for another drama to feature both actors.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

Portugal France

Language:

French Portuguese

Release Date:

29 October 1997 (France)

Also Known As:

Biodra Johna Wayne'a

Filming Locations:

Lisbon, Portugal

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fábrica de Imagens, Euripide Productions, Instituto Português da Arte Cinematográfica e Audiovisual (IPACA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

148 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"El Cine"
Performed by Música maravilhosa para gente maravilhosa
Ediçio Musicales Horus, S.A.

User Reviews

boring, awful and dated

A horrible movie. This static, stagy, talky film (filmed play would be a better term) works out as something akin to a blasphemous religious play. The late Portuguese director Joao Cesar Monteiro, who plays "god" here, seems to think that his anti-religious, amoral ideas are very fresh, but de Sade wrote better (whatever one might think of him) more than two centuries ago. He's not even a Buñuel, whose irreligious movies could be infinitely more smart. There's also room for Monteiro's cinephilia in the movie (the J.W. of the title stands for John Wayne and refers to a dream of the iconic actor moving his pelvis in the north pole) but this sort of cinephilia is terribly dated too.