Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl (2009)

A young man falls helplessly in love with a mysterious blonde woman who turns his life upside down.

Director:

Manoel de Oliveira

Writers:

Eça de Queirós (short story), Manoel de Oliveira (adaptation)

Stars:

Ricardo Trêpa, Catarina Wallenstein, Diogo Dória

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ricardo Trêpa	...	Macário
Catarina Wallenstein	...	Luísa
Diogo Dória	...	Francisco
Júlia Buisel	...	D. Vilaça
Leonor Silveira	...	Senhora
Luís Miguel Cintra	...	Self
Glória de Matos	...	D. Sande
Filipe Vargas	...	Amigo
Rogério Samora	...	Chapéu de Palha
Miguel Guilherme	...	Faleiro
Rogério Vieira
Paulo Matos	...	Desconhecido
António Reis	...	Cónego Savedra
Miguel Seabra	...	Notário
Luís Lima Barreto	...	Desembargador

Storyline

On a train to the Algarve, Macário tells his story to a sympathetic woman he's just met. In flashbacks he arrives in Lisbon to work as an accountant and a broker for his uncle. From his office window, he sees a young woman, Luísa: he's intrigued and finds her beautiful; she holds a Chinese fan near her face. He arranges to meet her, and they fall in love. When he tells his uncle he wants to marry, not only does his uncle disapprove, he fires Macário who then leaves his uncle's home to live on his own. Penniless, he takes a job in Cape Verde to earn some money so Luísa and he can wed. Will she wait, and what of her peculiarities? His seatmate on the train wants the whole story.

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Plot Keywords:

train | love | flashback | penniless | cape verde | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ricardo Trêpa is the director's grandson

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Soundtracks

Arabesque No.1
for harp
By Claude Debussy
Performed by Ana Paula Miranda

User Reviews

It was then that you fell in love.

Singularidades de uma Rapariga Loura is, to the best of my recollection, the first Portuguese film I have seen. It is based upon a work by one of Portugal's greatest writers, Eça de Queirós, who also wrote El crimen del padre Amaro, but that film was done in Mexico.

The film is relatively short, so things happen rapidly. Macário (Ricardo Trêpa) spots a girl (Catarina Wallenstein) in a window, and is smitten instantly. He knows nothing of Luísa, but wants to marry her. Was it the Chinese fan she was holding that stunned him? Uncle Francisco (Diogo Dória) was more level headed and refused to allow it, which sent poor Macário into the streets to earn enough to do it on his own. This is made more difficult by the fact that no one wants to hire him for fear of making his uncle angry. But, he finally finds an employer that immediately sends him to Cape Verde.

Things go well, turn bad, get better, and finally come crashing down.

Oppulent sets and formal mannerisms, as well as humor throughout, make for a very interesting film concerning the moral of not rushing into something before you have all the details.

Details

Country:

Portugal Spain France

Language:

Portuguese

Release Date:

6 August 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl

Filming Locations:

Lisbon, Portugal

Box Office

Budget:

$2,500,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$217,014

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmes do Tejo, Les Films de l'Après-Midi, Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

64 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1