Cinema
O Bobo
José Álvaro Morais · 1987
Synopsis
Lisbon, 1978. In an old film studio, a director, Francisco, rehearses the stage adaptation of a book by Alexandre Herculano set at the origins of the kingdom, in which he himself plays the jester. Around the rehearsals, the intrigues of the present take shape: a former affair with an actress, and a pact renewed with a childhood friend, João, who has weapons to sell. The two times blend, and one no longer always knows which one is being watched.
Context
The film, produced by António da Cunha Telles, intercuts passages of the nineteenth-century historical narrative with the present of 1978, when the country was recovering after the revolution. Its production was long and troubled, with an interminable studio shoot and sound difficulties; the director worked on it for six years and built these obstacles into the narrative. The film was still being edited when the artistic director of Locarno, David Streiff, saw it and selected it; it was shown there in August 1987.
Who it is for
A feature film in Portuguese; it moves without warning from rehearsal to plot and from present to past, and one has to give up trying to untangle everything.
Prizes and reception
Golden Leopard and the prize of the confederation of arthouse cinemas at Locarno in 1987; its director was the first Portuguese filmmaker to win the top prize at a major festival.
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