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 To the Left of the Father More at IMDbPro »Lavoura Arcaica (original title)

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22 out of 29 people found the following review useful:
A breathtaking epic, 22 July 2003
Author: rui_catarino from Lisbon, Portugal

This is, without a doubt, one of the best movies I have ever seen. It is a spectacular example of the new brazillian movie-making!

It is a technically perfect movie, with a brilliant cinematography and a masterful photography. The scenes are very well built and the director truly owns this movie. Of course, it derives from one of the masterpieces of recent literature, Raduan Nassar's impressive novel.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and have to disagree with Flavio Velames comment, complaining about it being too erudite. There's only such thing if a movie is pretensious, which is obviously not the case: this movie breathes honesty. There are already enough "common" movies being produced around the world to commit the crime of discarding this one for not being "common". Not all movies are supposed to be for the audience to have "fun". Some of them (the best ones) are supposed to enchant you, as this one does.

Keep up the extraordinary work, Luiz Fernando Carvalho! I had the opportunity of attending the screening of this movie at the Film Festival Rotterdam 2002, where Luiz Fernando spoke. Enlightening. True art and true artist. Thank you.

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14 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
Haunting, Hypnotic and Devastating, 16 August 2007
Author: Aluisio_Is_All_Right from Winooski, Vermont, USA

"Lavoura Arcaica" (aka "To The Left of the Father") is one of the most intense films you'll ever see - love it or hate it, it'll be a real experience for you. Devastating could be the best word to describe this masterpiece, based upon Raduan Nassar's brief, but strong novel of the same name. I've wanted to see this film since when it came out, back in 2001 - I read the novel the following year, when I was 14, and was thoroughly fascinated; the film would only be released on DVD in late 2005, and only now I could find a copy and finally watch it. It was worth the wait.

Luiz Fernando Carvalho, who had directed lots of soap operas before making his stunning feature directorial debut, didn't have a screenplay - everything was improvised on the novel, in a process Carvalho called a "reaction", rather than an adaptation, to the exquisite book. The tragic story of André (Selton Mello, perhaps the most versatile Brazilian actor of his generation) who leaves his home because of his tormented passion for his sister Ana (Simone Spoladore), is told with astounding visual taste by Luiz Fernando and cinematographer Walter Carvalho ("Central Station"), a remarkable original score by Marco Antônio Guimarães, and a flawless cast (including sacred monster Raul Cortez and Juliana Carneiro da Cunha as the parents). This is definitely not a film for all tastes, though; 170 minutes long, slow and spoken in Baroque Portuguese (I'm not sure English subtitles can make full justice to Nassar's poetic narrative; but then again, if you don't avoid Wong Kar-Wai's films just because you don't speak Chinese - I certainly don't - you'll be smart enough not to ignore this film). I'd compare "Lavoura Arcaica" to Terrence Malick and Pier Paolo Pasolini, but Luiz Fernando Carvalho managed to make a unique film with his own style. Well deserved winner of over 30 international awards, this is a film that must be discovered. 10/10 in my books.

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18 out of 31 people found the following review useful:
You Need To Be Patient and Probably Read the Book First, 8 December 2005
6/10
Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I read and heard many good comments about the cult "Lavoura Arcaica", and I have been waiting for the DVD for four years. I have just bought the "previously seen" DVD from a rental, and I have not finished watching the movie yet (I have just seen 122 minutes running time, and I am writing this review to rest before the next 50 minutes conclusion). This movie has great cinematography and music score, and an awesome and impressive performance of Selton Mello. Unfortunately the director and screenplay writer Luis Fernando Carvalho wrote a very boring screenplay, forgetting that cinema must have a suitable pace and language. Further, that the viewer not necessarily read the novel of Raduan Nassar before watching his movie. The poetic and erudite lines and dialogs are not adequate for cinema, but for theater. The movie is spoken in my native language, and I am completely tired with two hours of a very heavy and theatrical story. Imagine overseas viewers, trying to read the subtitles with this very unusual text! I have just checked the awards of "Lavoura Arcaica" and most of them refers to cinematography, lead actor, supporting actor and actress and other technical awards (art direction, editing, sound, music etc), which I totally agree. With a better screenplay and pace, "Lavoura Arcaica" could be an excellent movie. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Lavoura Arcaica" ("Archaic Field Work")

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12 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
The waiting wasn't worthless, 30 September 2005
10/10
Author: flasuss from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This movie gained a cult-status because it won more than 30 international awards, received more praise from the Brazilian critics than any other feature of that year, but was never released on DVD or VHS until last week. But the waiting wasn't worthless: the movie is a masterpiece. Few films are so honest and love their characters so much as this one, and has so much faith in it's material. Carvalho's directing is clearly very elaborate, and makes every frame seems poetic... The baroque cinematography and the score reflects perfectly the mood of the characters, the sound mixing is nearly perfect, and the cast is, without exception, magnificent. Certainly one of the most overlooked films ever, but this time, the public cannot be blamed.

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7 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
A Masterpiece, 16 September 2006
10/10
Author: ninacosta87 from Brazil

This film is certainly a masterpiece and ought to be remembered for all times. It was based in a novel written by Lebanese descendant Raduan Nassar, who was born in Brazil. The story is about a beautiful family of Lebanese heritage that lives in the countryside of Brazil. However, needless to say that peace does not remain in the father's house. Translated properly, the real film's title is something like "Archaic Farming", because that's what it really is. The film takes place in the mid 30's or 40's and through some flash-backs, we get to know about André (Selton Mello) and the reasons that led him to a desperate and at the same time wise decision to leave his home for good. André is a harassed, taciturn, introverted man. A sort of a bad root in the family tree. His mother, so sweet and tenderness loves him above all her children. Such a maternal love suffocates André who finds himself mad because of the ardent love he feels for his sister Ana. André's happiness depends on Ana's actions and movements towards him. In a few words, she's everything in his life. The father is a very strict and severe man who desires above all things, order and tradition in his house. André just can't stand it. After his disastrous sister's rejection, André leave his home. However, his older brother Pedro goes after him and after finding André, convinces him to go back home. The ending is surprising for those who haven't read the book but for those who did it's unforgettable. Lavoura Arcaica is indeed a very beautiful and unusual film. Not everyone is able to watch it to the end and understand it in its all ways and meanings. The photography is just the bomb. All the colors in the screen are amazing. The soundtrack is excellent. All the actors' performances are great. Selton Mello, who was already a famous actor in Brazil, manages to play a different character this time. I dare to say that the film is just as good as the book. Both are worth seeing and reading.

There are so many things that I could say about this film... but really, I'll leave it for you to watch it.

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Floors, pretty faces and crying, 7 July 2011
6/10
Author: Edgar Soberón Torchia (estorchia@gmail.com) from Panama

There may be two reasons why Luiz Fernando Carvalho was all over this film to the point of exhaustion: he wanted to cover all bases to make sure his full vision would reach the screen, or he is a megalomaniac who has to put his signature in every aspect of the filmmaking process and only trust a few to share his view. I find this work good in sections, but even within these, not everything functions well all the time. Even if he did not have a shooting script as it has been told, but worked the novel as a succession of "reactions", his film is terribly verbose. Walter Carvalho's cinematography is fine, but repetitive, with multiple tracking shots of furniture, floors, nature, or distortions, when not trying to be simply "pretty"; and Selton Mello, while a fine actor, sometimes shouts as if he were performing on a Greek amphitheater for a distant audience. Simone Spoladore is beautiful but silent all through the film, until a late explosion which brings tragic consequences. The father is another wordy figure, while the rest of the family cries, and cries, and cries. A pity Carvalho (whose only feature film this is, while being a full time director of soap operas) did not adapt literature to moving images (this is not, by any means, the case), and leave the editing to someone else who could have reduced all those long tracking shot into reasonable length. Sex had never been so unexciting; while incest (a common practice all over the world, that may cause misery in someone's life or not) is glorified. In any case, watch its almost three hours if you believe in prizes... and this one has won dozens of them.

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2 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
awesome, 11 March 2006
10/10
Author: filipe_eu from Brazil

it's a terrific movie. pretty slow, but that's the way the story has to go to put us inside the head of the characters. The silences (and there is a lot of them) are as important as the dialog, witch are pretty intense and full of meaning. The movie is based on a very hard novel, written in Brazilian Portuguese and sometimes is difficult even for Brazilians to understand a few lines. The movie keeps that structure, and it adds powerful images to the sentence. the acting is great, from the leading role to the character Ana, who doesn't speak at all but says a lot with the eyes. It's a difficult film to watch, but it is worth every second!

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5 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
The beauty of the lenses, 9 December 2001
10/10
Author: Ricardo Peruchi (rperuchi@terra.com.br) from São Paulo

Lavoura Arcaica is already one of the best movies ever made in Brazil.

Concerning to Photography, it is a Master Class, totally out of conventional patterns. Art Direction is also accurate. Although in some moments the words just repeat what images show completely (no reason for that), it is amazing how a psychological book such as Raduan Nassar's novel has become a mature film. Cinema - in capital letter. A rare gem.

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6 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
poetic invasion, 20 November 2006
10/10
Author: ephieka from Greece

Dare to say "Lavoura Arcaica" is to be a classic film. cinematography, music, acting, directing all compose a camvas of beauty and sheer poetry. All 170 minutes -or so- that the film lasted were breathtaking. This wonderful adaptation of Raduan Nassar's exquisite novel did create images of its own. If it had been Luiz Fernando Carvahlo's only film, that would have been enough for him to be remembered. The way the plot was set, the way the story was told, the way the characters embodied the burden of their family's history, all speak out the battle between passion as a demon and passion as an angel. The screening of the movie in Greece took place at the 47th thessaloniki film festival this year, one of the strong moments of the whole festival.

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4 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Not an easy film, but rewarding, 29 October 2007
10/10
Author: groggo from Toronto, Ontario, Canada

'Stunning' is not an exaggerated word to describe this film. The images are haunting, and I saw it on the small screen at home. I can only imagine what it must have looked like in a theatre.

Director Luiz Fernando Carvalho is masterful in meticulously capturing the poetic word rhythms of novelist Raduan Nassar, who wrote this metaphysical, philosophical work. The largely verbatim prose-poetry (direct from Nasar's book), spoken improvisationally by the actors, is psychologically multi-layered. It is all brilliantly complemented by Walter Cavalho's multi-award-winning cinematography. Cavalho's disturbing and often sumptuous images linger long after the screen has turned dark. One is reminded of Sven Nykvist's haunting style of 'still-life-photography' in films, particularly those made with Ingmar Bergman.

Lavoura Carcaica is almost three hours long, and (isn't this always the way with great films?) it requires an almost immediate re-viewing. One just cannot absorb the language and imagery in one sitting.

The ensemble acting is first-rate. Sultan Mello is the tortured son in temporary self-imposed exile from his family, who yearns (shamefully) for the love and sensual heat of his sister Ana's body; Simone Spoladore is the innocent, sweet-faced Ana, who expresses her desire for love by dancing (the images are more erotic than 99% of the soft-core sex you see in mainstream movies these days); Juliana Carneiro da Cunha is the loving, long-suffering mother who is an exemplar of maternity, a woman who sacrifices everything to her children, and particularly her 'pet,' Andre (Mello); and Raul Cortez is simply astonishing to watch as the austere, evangelistic, hypocritical father who rages about the primacy of familial love but doesn't really understand its true meaning when it comes to his own children.

This is a film that well deserved its many nominations and awards. It is deeply challenging and demanding, and it almost certainly would never have been made in Hollywood.

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