A Talking Picture | Telescope Film
A Talking Picture

A Talking Picture (Um Filme Falado)

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  • Portugal,
  • France,
  • Italy
  • 2003
  • · 96m

Director Manoel de Oliveira
Cast Leonor Silveira, Filipa de Almeida, John Malkovich, Catherine Deneuve, Stefania Sandrelli
Genre Drama, History

A meditation on civilization. July, 2001: friends wave as a cruise ship departs Lisbon for Mediterranean ports and the Indian Ocean. On board and on day trips in Marseilles, Pompeii, Athens, Istanbul, and Cairo, a professor tells her young daughter about myth, history, religion, and wars. Men approach her; she's cool, on her way to her husband in Bombay. After Cairo, for two evenings divided by a stop in Aden, the captain charms three successful, famous (and childless) women, who talk with wit and intellect, each understanding the others' native tongue, a European union. The captain asks mother and child to join them. He gives the girl a gift. Helena sings. Life can be sweet.

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What are critics saying?

100

Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt

As a nonagenarian, de Oliveira is the world's oldest working filmmaker, and still one of the best. This is a lovely, lively, timely treat for the eyes and mind.

90

The New York Times by Manohla Dargis

In both its intellectual reach and the elegant simplicity of its form, A Talking Picture bears resemblance to Andrei Sokurov's "Russian Ark."

88

Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington

It's a great film that, sadly, may be ignored by all but the most dedicated, knowledgable filmgoers.

80

The Hollywood Reporter by Frank Scheck

A thoughtful, provocative effort that makes up for its narrative failings with its astute philosophical musings.

80

The A.V. Club by Noel Murray

De Oliveira wraps A Talking Picture with a simultaneous introduction and farewell--a bold curtain-dropper that's either a bleak joke or an imprecisely controlled scream of rage.

80

Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum

Initially this seems naive and archaic, but it conceals a Buñuelian stinger in its tail.

75

New York Post by V.A. Musetto

Moves along its tranquil way until about five minutes before the closing credits, when it turns into a terrorist thriller.

70

Village Voice by Dennis Lim

Still astonishingly vital at 96, the Portuguese maestro Manoel de Oliveira here takes a becalmed trip through stormy waters.

70

Variety by Deborah Young

A film destined to divide Manoel de Oliveira's fans but also to win him new ones, A Talking Picture is his simplest, most linear story in memory.

40

TV Guide Magazine by Ken Fox

This intermittently interesting symbolic tour through European history once again places ideas over aesthetics and technique.