Homage to Manoel de Oliveira, Portuguese movie director, the oldest in the world still working in his 102nd birthday, December 11th.

1. MANOEL DE OLIVEIRA Take 102 Leonor Silveira in Manoel de Oliveira’s «Abraham’s Valley», 1993, a “Madame Bovary” update made when the directorwas in his 80s. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/movies/09lim.html?_r=4&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

2. Madragoa Filmes John Malkovich, like Catherine Deneuve, has appeared in Mr. Manoel de Oliveira’s movies. «I don’t know if a career like his will ever be possible again,» Mr. Malkovich says. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/movies/09lim.html?_r=4&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

3. More than a century... being himself! «At home I miss space, in life I miss time. And I cannot solve either one thing or the other.» Manoel de Oliveira Homage to Manoel de Oliveira at Cannes, 2008. One hundred years in 2008. Manoel de Oliveira was born in 1908. Now, in 2010, near the 102 years old, he keeps working. He is a unique case in the history of cinema… and all the arts. Manoel de Oliveira as a racing car pilot, once one of his passions.

4. 102nd CLOSE TO HIS ANNIVERSARY MANOEL DE OLIVEIRA PREPARES HIS NEXT MOVIES Manoel de Oliveira, the oldest movie director in the world still working, completes 102 years next 11th December and prepares his next long-movie, when his last film, «O Estranho Caso de Angélica» / «The Strange Case of Angelica» , hasn’t arrived yet to the Portuguese cinemas. The movie director will work with a new producing enterprise, the Soound and the Fury, at least in two movies, informed the producer Luís Urbano. In Diário Digital, 2 de Dezembro de 2010 http://diariodigital.sapo.pt/news.asp?section_id=14&id_news=481907

5. Homage to Manoel de Oliveira at Cannes, 2008, when he was 100 years old. Lately, Manoel de Oliveira has also signed the short Panels of San Vicente - Poetic Vision, already shown in Venice International Film Festival and in the DocLisboa. http://fiatluxcarpediem.blogspot.com/2008/12/os-100-anos-de-manoel-de-oliveira-ou-o.html

6. A timeless epic between vanguard and the slow motion of inner life. «We discovered a film-maker with a very romanesque kind of work. We got used to watch Manoel de Oliveira’s films.» Serge Toubiana, director of the Cinémathèque Française http://arthoughts.creare.pt/tag/madragoafilmes/

7. «Each of us plays a part in life. The world is a theatre and we are the characters. We read out loud the script of a play that we get to know as we go along living it. We don’t know the future because the author hasn’t revealed it yet! This film was born randomly. I realized I could keep that memory and pass it on to cinema… There are also other reasons, deeper ones. But the subconscious is something we can’t talk about!» Manoel de Oliveira

8. DOURO, FAINA FLUVIAL, 1931 His first work was a short-film entitled Labour on the Douro River, 1931. «I wanted to use cinema as a means of expression. I put the theories of the time into practice: the specificity of editing, like editing by contrast and analogy.» Manoel de Oliveira http://arthoughts.creare.pt/tag/madragoafilmes/

9. «It is a small masterpiece. The modern poetry of iron and steel, the charm of nature in its various aspects and nuances, the tonality of the hours, the joy and misery of man, partner of the animal in the struggle for daily bread ─ all during a day of activity in the banks of Douro, is given to us with true greatness.» José Régio, in Presença-Coimbra, n.º43 XII -1934

10. Oliveira, «has always admitted he filmed «Douro, Faina Fluvial» /«Labour on the Douro River», expressed in the influence of «Berlin, Symphonie - Einer Grosstadt» directed by Walter Ruttmann» and saw «Labour on the Douro River» as a work with the visual image and the light, so that through this he could get to that.» Benard da Costa in Manoel de Oliveira: Alguns projectos não realizados e outros textos Berlin, Symphonie einer Großstadt, Germany, 1927, dir. Walter Ruttmann. «In 1931, I presented «Douro, Faina Fluvial» / «Labour on the Douro River». The film had begun in 1929, but the cameraman was not always available. So the shooting took time. The film was then soundstage ─ we were then at the time of the transition to the sound movies, the time of the Jazz Singer. Many years later, I remade the assembly. Actually I thought reassemble the Douro because the edition had been changed when we added the sound. So I looked back to the initial assembly and also made some corrections. I don’t know if I was right but corrected it. It had been a film made with no movie experience. The assembly had been made in my father's house, atop a pool table, and made haste to pass in the Fifth Congress of the Critique of Lisbon.» Manoel de Oliveira, in Baecque; 1996:42.

11. «Aniki Bobó», 1942, neo-realist fiction that uses childhood to portrait adult behaviour. «What was my intention with «Aniki Bobó»? There certainly was one and it was very ambitious. By telling such a simple story, I wanted to reflect adult problems on children, which are still in an embryonic stage; I wanted to make a confrontation of the notion of good with the notion of bad, of love with hate, of friendship with selfishness. I wanted to suggest the fear of the night and of the unknown, the attraction for life that exists so strong and certain in everything around us.» Manoel de Oliveira http://arthoughts.creare.pt/tag/madragoafilmes/

12. Aniki-Bobó, 1942.

13. Manoel de Oliveira – Aniki Bóbó – The Eternity of Childhood, caricature by Hermínio. Aniki-Bobó, 1931, poster. «The first feature film by Manoel de Oliveira, «Aniki Bóbó», 1942, was restored and will return to cinemas in Portugal next Thursday (Dec. 9) on the eve of the 102nd anniversary of the director. It will also be released on DVD.» The Spanish edition of the Portuguese movie Aniki-Bóbó. http://dn.sapo.pt/inicio/artes/interior.aspx?content_id=1726471&seccao=Cinema

14. «O Pintor e a Cidade» / «The Painter and the City», 1956. The first portuguese movie in colour, with the painter António Cruz in the leading role. «I did The Painter and the City against Labour on the Douro River. Whereas Labour on the Douro River is an edited film, The Painter and the City is a film of ecstasy. While making it, I discovered that time is a very important element. The quick image has an effect, but an image that prevails gains a whole new shape. The Painter and the City is a crucial work in my career because it changed my perspective of cinema. It was the first time I turned my back at an edited film.» Manoel de Oliveira, in interview with João Bénard da Costa, 1989 http://arthoughts.creare.pt/tag/madragoafilmes/

15. António Cruz, Untitled, 1957. António Cruz, Untitled, n.d.. António Cruz, 1907-1983, painter and sculptor. (António Amadeu Conceição Cruz ) «António Cruz (...) is without possible contestation the greatest Portuguese watercolourist of modern times. He took watercolor off banality (…). He gave her greatness, symphonic resonance; took her to achieve a high value of synthetic speech and departed her from the usual superficiality. (...)» Abel Salazar in an interview with Manuel Labrador in the Sol / Sunhttp://sigarra.up.pt/up/web_base.gera_pagina?P_pagina=1000649

16. Acto da Primavera, 1963. A Caça, 1964. O Passado e o Presente, 1972. Benilde ou a Virgem Mãe, 1975.

17. O Sapato de Cetim., 1985. Francisca, 1981 Os Canibais, 1988. 'Non', ou a Vã Glória de Mandar, 1990.

18. A Divina Comédia / The Divine Comedy, 1991. O Dia do Desespero, 1992. O Convento, 1995. A Caixa, 1994.

19. Party, 1996. Viagem ao Princípio do Mundo, 1997. A Carta, 1999. Inquietude, 1998.

20. Vou Para Casa, 2001. Palavra e Utopia, 2000. Um Filme Falado, 2003. O Princípio da Incerteza, 2002.

21. O Quinto Império - Ontem Como Hoje, 2004. Espelho Mágico, 2005. Cristovão Colombo, O Enigma, 2007. Belle Toujours, 2006.

22. «Amor de Perdição» / «Doomed Love», 1978. «Doomed Love» is a dialogue between reality and imagination, between the perceptible and the imperceptible. Adapted from the famous Portuguese novel from the 19th century with the same title by Camilo de Castelo Branco, «Doomed Love» is an actual workshop of ideas about the incestuous relationship between romance and cinema and about the several possibilities of literary adaptation. A lot of the so-called avant-garde elements of the film were born precisely from that reflection, thanks to which each scene turns into a film solution of a literary challenge. Jonathan Rosembaum, The Masterpiece You Missed, in Soho News.http://arthoughts.creare.pt/tag/madragoafilmes/

23. «Visita ou Memórias e Confissões» / «Visit or Memories and Confessions», 1982, is an autobiographic documentary that the film-maker wants to be screened only after his death. All reels and copies are kept in the national Portuguese film library. http://arthoughts.creare.pt/tag/madragoafilmes/

24. «A Divina Comédia» / «The Divine Comedy», 1991. In a mental institution the patients see themselves as people like Jesus, Lázaro, Marta, Maria, Adão, Eve, Sonia, Raskolnikov, Aliosha e Ivan Karamasov, a Philosopher, a Profet, Santa Teresa d'Avila, reciting the Divine Comedy. Director: Manoel de Oliveira - Writers: Manoel de Oliveira (scenario), Manoel de Oliveira (dialogue), and 3 more credits.

25. «Vale Abraão» / «Abraham's Valley», 1993, with Leonor Silveira (Ema), Cecile Sanz Alba (Jovem Ema), Luís Miguel Cintra (Carlos de Paiva), Ruy de Carvalho (Paulino Cardeano), Luís Lima, Barreto (Pedro Lumiares), Micheline Larpin (Simona) e Diogo Dória (Fernando Osório).

26. Last work of actor Marcello Mastroianni, who died shortly after filming. He acts as a kind of alter ego filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira. The story begins with the shooting of a Franco-Portuguese production, in which a principal hires an actor Portuguese French to work on his film. Although born in France, the actor is the son of a Portuguese, who had died many years ago. (…) The director and two other players decide to accompany him on this journey. (…) During the trip, the director relives memories of his childhood in the region, telling little stories of the place. (…) In the end, only left the boy to visit the cemetery where his ancestors are buried.» http://www.mostra.org/exib_filme_arquivo.php?ano=29&filme=6013 «Viagem ao Princípio do Mundo» / «Voyage to the Beginning of the World», 1997.

27. «Viagem ao Princípio do Mundo» / «Voyage to the Beginning of the World», 1997. «To become the master of the chaos one is.» Nietzsche

28. «Vou Para Casa» / «I'm Going Home», 2001. «Vou para casa» / «Je rentre à la maison» / «I’m Going Home», by Manoel de Oliveira (France, Portugal, 2001), withm Michel Piccoli (Gilbert Valence), Catherine Deneuve (Marguerite), John Malkovich (John Crawford), Antoine Chappey (George), Leonor Baldaque (Sylvia), Leonor Silveira (Marie), RicardoTrêpa, Isabel Ruth, etc. 90 min. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283422/

29. «Um Filme Falado» / «A Talking Picture», 2003. International title: A TALKING PICTURE Original title: UM FILME FALADO Country: Portugal, France, Italy Year: 2003 Genre: fiction Directed by: Manoel de Oliveira Cast: Leonor Silveira, Catherine Deneuve, Stefania Sandrelli, John Malkovich, Irène Papas http://cineuropa.org/film.aspx?lang=ing&documentID=35596#

30. Original title: Belle Toujours Country: Portugal, France Year: 2006 Genre: fiction Directed by: Manoel de Oliveira Cast: Leonor Baldaque, Júlia Buisel, Michel Piccoli, Ricardo Trêpa, Bulle Ogier http://cineuropa.org/film.aspx?lang=ing&documentID=64532

32. Title: O Convento / The Convent, 1994 (1995) Screenplay: Manoel de Oliveira Direction: Manoel de Oliveira Cast: João Carreira; Carloto Cotta; Ana Cristina De Oliveira; Teresa Madruga; Nuno Gil Genre: Comedy / Drama Duration: 90 minutes Country: Portugal Resume: Professor Michael Padovic is an American investigator who is working on a thesis intended to prove that Shakespeare had Spanish ascendency and not British. But it lacks some essential documents, which are supposed to be in the archives of the old Convent of Arrábida, Portugal. For this reason he and his wife, Hélène travel from Paris to Arrábida, where they settle. Their host is the Guardian of the convent, a strange character whose name is Baltar. There are something mysterious in Hélène that captivates Baltar. To distract the attention of her husband, suggests to him that he hires as his assistant, Piedade (Mercy), the new archivist of the monastery. Hélène discovers that the husband rejects her in favor of labour and the fact that Piedade (Mercy) be young and beautiful is further increasing the voltage, while serving the diabolic intentions of Baltar and the subtle manipulation of Hélène. The situation becomes extremely bizarre and culminates in an unexpected way. The Convent, 1995. http://vitoriadeportuga.skyrock.com/8.html http://www.amordeperdicao.pt/basedados_filmes.asp?filmeid=80

33. International title: Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl Original title: Singularidades de uma Rapariga Loira Country: Portugal, France, Spain Year: 2009 Genre: fiction Directed by: Manoel de Oliveira http://cineuropa.org/film.aspx?lang=ing&documentID=89808# Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl, 2009.

34. Catarina Wallenstein and Ricardo Trêpa, in Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl, 2009. Ricardo Trêpa is Manoel Oliveira’s grandson. Singularidades de uma Rapariga Loira / Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl, 2009. «Adapted from a short story by Eça de Queirós. The experimentalism that characterised Manoel de Oliveira’s work gives origin to genius and timeless films with his signature. We will be waiting for his next film, currently being shot.» Text: Daniela Ambrósio / Translation: Maria José Anjos -http://arthoughts.wordpress.com/equipa/

35. International title: The Strange Case of Angelica Original title: O Estranho Caso de Angélica Country: Portugal, France, Spain Year: 2010 (2009) Genre: fiction Directed by: Manoel de Oliveira Screenplay: Manoel de Oliveira Cast: Luis Miguel Cintra, Pilar López de Ayala, Ana Maria Magalhaes, Isabel Ruth, Leonor Silveira, Ricardo Trêpa. http://cineuropa.org/film.aspx?lang=ing&documentID=143113

36. «Opening film of the 34th International Film Festival of São Paulo - 2010, The Strange Case of Angelica, 2009, directed by Manoel de Oliveira. Set in the 1950s, the film brings a photographer (Ricardo Trêpa) who has to wake up suddenly at night to photograph a beautiful young woman (Pilar López de Ayala) who had just died. Suddenly, he is disturbed by the image of the deceased.» http://cinema.cineclick.uol.com.br/galeria/carregar/titulo/mostra-2010/id/635/foto/7712/

37. «Porto of My Childhood is a documentary that the producer Paulo Branco invited me to do about the city of Porto, for Porto 2001- European Capital of Culture. A documentary about Porto in 2001 was impossible at that time, with the city in works, and it's a thing I can do later. What, moreover, was good because it gave me the opportunity to evoke the Porto of my childhood, thanks to some of my memories, the most simple and more connected to the city. I consider the film a documentary, although it was bound to some reconstructions, in order not to reduce it to a photo album. Finally, it’s about certain memories of a kind of life and images of a bygone era that, although related to me, don’t constitute an autobiography.» Manoel de Oliveira, Porto, August 2000 Porto da Minha Infância / Porto of My Childhood, Madragoa Filmes, 2001.

38. Original title: O Princípio da Incerteza / The Principle of Uncertainty Country: Portugal, France Year: 2002 Genre: fiction Directed by: Manoel de Oliveira Cast: Leonor Baldaque, Ricardo Trêpa, Leonor Silveira, Isabel Ruth.http://cineuropa.org/film.aspx?lang=ing&documentID=2259# http://vitoriadeportuga.skyrock.com/8.html

39. «I am more known for my age than for the movies I make!» Manoel de Oliveira Manoel de Oliveira with Clint Eastwood, two masters of cinema. http://analuandina.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html

40. Manoel de Oliveira, 100 years old, 2008. Gold Palm at Cannes, 2008, for the whole of his cinematographic work.

41. Manoel de Oliveira at Cannes with his family, 2008. http://lenda-portuguesa.blogspot.com/

42. Manuel de Oliveira with his wife, Isabel de Oliveira, 2008. Manoel de Oliveira with his grandson, the actor Ricardo Trêpa. Homage in his centenary, 2008.

44. FEATURE FILMS 2010 - O Estranho Caso de Angélica 2009 - Singularidades de uma Rapariga Loura 2007 - Cristóvão Colombo – O Enigma 2006 - Belle Toujours 2005 - Espelho Mágico 2004 - O Quinto Império- Ontem Como Hoje 2003 - Um Filme Falado 2002 - O Princípio da Incerteza 2001 - Porto da Minha Infância 2001 - Vou para Casa 2000 - Palavra e Utopia 1999 - A Carta / The Letter 1998 - Inquietude / Anxiety 1997 - Viagem ao Princípio do Mundo / Journey to the Beginning of the World / Voyage to the Beginning of the World 1996 - Party 1995 - O Convento / The Convent 1994 - A Caixa / Blind Man's Bluff 1993 - Vale Abraão / Abraham’s Valley 1992 - O Dia do Desespero / The Day of Despair 1991 - A Divina Comédia / The Divine Comedy 1990 - Non, ou a Vã Glória de Mandar / Non or the Vain Glory of Command 1988 - Os Canibais / The Cannibals 1986-87 - O Meu Caso- Repeticoes / Mon Cas 1985 – O Sapato de Cetim / Le Soulier de Satin /The Satin Slipper 1981 - Francisca 1978-79 - Amor de Perdição / Doomed Love 1974-75 - Benilde ou a Virgem Mãe / Benilde: Virgin and Mother 1971 - O Passado e o Presente / Past and Present 1963 - Acto da Primavera / The Passion of Jesus(docuficção) 1942 - Aniki-Bobó SHORT AND MEDIUM LENGTH FILMS 2010 - Painéis de São Vicente de Fora, Visão Poética 1988 - A Bandeira Nacional / The National Flag 1985 - Simpósio Internacional de Escultura em Pedra- Porto 1983 - Lisboa Cultural / Cultural Lisbon 1983 - Nice - À propos de Jean Vigo 1982 - Visita ou Memórias e Confissões / Visit or Memories and Confessions 1965 - As Pinturas do meu irmão Júlio / Pictures of My Brother Júlio(documentário / documentary) 1964 - A Caça / The Hunt 1958-60 - O coracão / The Heart (documentário / documentary) 1959 - O Pão / Bread (documentário/documentary) 1956 - O Pintor e a Cidade / The Painter and the City 1941 - Famalicão (filme) 1938 - Já se Fabricam Automóveis em Portugal 1938 - Miramar, Praia das Rosas 1932 - Estátuas de Lisboa 1931 - Douro, Faina Fluvial / Hard Labour on the River Douro http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manoel_de_Oliveira

45. MANOEL DE OLIVEIRA AS ACTOR 1997 - Viagem ao Princípio do Mundo / Journey to the Beginning of the World / Voyage to the Beginning of the World – role as "Driver" 1994 - Lisbon Story (directed by Wim Wenders) – role as himself 1982 - Conversa Acabada (directed by João Botelho) - role as Priest 1933 - A Canção de Lisboa (directed by Cotinelli Telmo) 1928 - Fátima Milagrosa (directed by Rino Lupo) http://www.filmreference.com/Directors-Mi-Pe/Oliveira-Manoel-de.html#ixzz16f5lsnIe Casa do Cinema Manoel de Oliveira / Home of Cinema Manoel de Oliveira, project by Eduardo Souto de Moura, Porto, 1998.

47. Manoel de Oliveira , with "Diálogo com Manoel de Oliveira," Cinemateca Portuguesa, Lisbon, 1981.

48. França, J. A., L. Pina, and A. Costa, Introdução à obra de Manoel de Oliveira , Lisbon, 1982.

49. Passek, Jean-Loup, Le cinéma portugais , Paris, 1982.

50. Lardeau, Yann, Manoel de Oliveira , Paris, 1988. http://www.filmreference.com/Directors-Mi-Pe/Oliveira-Manoel-de.html#ixzz16f8Xg43z

52. Interview with Paulo Rocha, in Critica (Lisbon), March 1972.

53. Interview with João Botelho and Cabral Martins, in M (Lisbon), August/September 1975.

54. «A propos de Benilde ou a Virgem-Mãe,» in Image et Son (Paris), February 1977.

55. «Los Paisajes pintados,» an interview with F. Llináa and S. Zunzunegui, in Contracampo (Madrid), January 1981.

56. Interview with Richard Peña, in Journal of Film and Video (Carbondale, Illinois), Summer 1983.

57. Interview with Charles Tesson and others, in Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), January 1986.

58. «Le cinema de demain,» in Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), May 1991 (sup).

59. Bassan, R., «La divine comedie,» in Revue du Cinéma (Paris), May 1992.

60. Borlee, G., «La divine comedie,» in Grand Angle (Mariembourg, Belgium), July 1992.

61. Interview with A. de Baecque and T. Jousse, in Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), April 1993.

62. Interview with J. A. Gili, in Positif (Paris), September 1993.

63. «Kijk eens Mama, ik heb een takening gemaakt!,» interview with G. Lefort, in Skrien (Amsterdam), April/May 1994.

64. Interview with J. M. Lalanne, in Le Mensuel du Cinéma (Paris), June 1994.

65. «Sommes-nous un divertissement occasinnael pour la nature,» interview with J.A. Gili, in Positif (Paris), June 1997.

66. Oliveira, Manoel de, «Petit dialogue,» in Positif (Paris), June 1997. http://www.filmreference.com/Directors-Mi-Pe/Oliveira-Manoel-de.html#ixzz16f7MUUVG

67. 8 DECADES IN THE MOVIES Simultaneously rugged and tender, the tortured work of Manoel de Oliveira, in which a personal vision is transformed into a unique expression of Portuguese culture, finds its only counterpart in that of Carl Theodor Dreyer. The radical aesthetic and ethical programs of both filmmakers met with incomprehension during the formative years of their careers. In addition, one finds a tragic fusion of profane desire and an aspiration toward the sacred in the work of both directors. No man is a prophet in his own country; Oliveira, an artist of magnitude disproportionate to such a diminutive nation, confirms this aphorism. He found no favour under the Salazar regime; instead, he was condemned by its pettiness to silence and inactivity. Persecution did not cease with the death of the dictator. Oliveira continued to be charged with "not being natural" and was accused of the sin of "elitism." This is the reason there are so many films that Oliveira did not make. Only relatively late in his career did international acclaim force a measure of national recognition. The first phase of Oliveira's work, what he calls "the stage of the people," was dominated by an intense dialogue between documentary and fiction. From the very beginning Oliveira refused to subjugate himself to "genres" and "schools" of filmmaking. An unmistakable movement toward fiction, toward the autonomy of the cinema vis à vis the real , can be seen in his documentaries from Douro to Pinturas. In registering its images, Oliveira's camera approaches quotidien reality as a stage. Through montage, the world can be fixed, cut, and reproduced as a series of fragments. The second phase of Oliveira's career began in 1972 and was characterized by a more complete expression of the impulse towards fiction. His work featured a concomitant change of objectives: the "stage of the people" is replaced by the "stage of the bourgeoisie." This phase comprises four films, from O Passado e o presente to Francisca , known as the "Tetralogy of Frustrated Loves." Alluringly romantic, possessed in particular by the love of perdition as expressed in the Portuguese literature of the time, these films attain an aesthetic refinement unsurpassed in European cinema. In the 1930s Oliveira belonged to the cinematic vanguard. From 1940 to 1963 this cinematic craftsman anticipated many of the innovative aesthetic experiments of later filmmakers — from Italian neorealism to the cinema of Straub—without reducing his work to mere formalism. With the "Tetralogy," a risky and original project makes its appearance: the destruction of the narrative grammar which relies on the shot/countershot, and the destruction of psychological correspondences through the creation, in these films, of a "point of view belonging to no one." Refusing to identify itself with either the characters or the spectator, the camera alters spatial relationships in an effort not exactly to neutralize itself, but to situate itself in a space without a subject in order to fix faces and voices. His attention to "Voices" is important because, since these films were adapted from literary works, they resolutely assume the literary nature of the text , to which long and fixed shots or the repetition of such shots confer a temporality without parallel in the history of the cinema. The obsessive use of the studio is also underscored, re-enforcing a sense of enclosure and restriction. A similar emphasis is placed on the style or representation which situates actors and objects on the same level; their function is simply to be present.

68. Linking this formal experimentation with undeniably vigorous fiction, Francisca is Oliveira's masterpiece. In Francisca , a grandiose synthesis of literary, musical, and pictorial materials, a tellurian identification is revealed which is the origin of desire, fear, guilt, and perdition—the principle themes of Oliveira. After all, such an identification echoes an entire culture which, at its best, transcends a tormented pessimism and bitter irony, though it retains only the consolation of melancholy. This culture is Portuguese and Oliveira is its filmmaker. What is truly amazing about Oliveira is that he scripted and directed one film per year through the 1990s — quite an accomplishment for an octogenarian/nonagenarian. His 1999 film, A Carta , a contemporary updating of Madame de Lafayette's seventeenth-century novel La Princesse de Cleves , is the story of a young married beauty of noble background and her plight upon finding herself attracted to another. Here, Oliveira acutely examines the eternal conflict between desire and honor, carnality and spirituality, and what is temporary and what is lasting. Various characters die, and the filmmaker ruminates on the impact of death, and how those who have passed on are remembered by those who remain. As with his other work, Oliveira fills the film with long, lingering takes that allow the viewer to observe what is on the screen, which serves as the filmmaker's canvas. Those less patient may feel that A Carta is too slow-moving; those more diligent will find views and ideas that are well worth pondering. Perhaps Oliveira's most revealing late-1990s film is Viagem ao principio do mundo , a poignant, thoughtful road movie. Oliveira tells the story of a wise, aging filmmaker named Manoel (an elderly looking and aptly cast Marcello Mastroianni, in one of his final screen appearances), who remembers his past while traveling by car with several associates and stopping at different sites. The character Manoel surely speaks for the octogenarian filmmaker when he observes, "The mind is fine, but the wrapping deteriorates." And the character mirrors his creator in that his mind is forever active, and he is constantly thinking, recollecting, and philosophizing. "I am over the hill," the on-screen Manoel observes. "I am lame and old. . . I am not a masochist, but I remember when I was an innocent child." Later on, he poetically notes, "Memory is a landslide in a dreaming heart." Oliveira fills the film with subjective shots of the countryside as it appears from the car window; these images serve to offer a view of Manoel's world as seen by Manoel. But the filmmaker is not the lone sage character. One of Manoel's companions reflects Oliveira's worldview when noting, "Life is what it is, and death never fails." Viagem ao principio do mundo is a meditation on the essence of life. It is crammed with wisdom regarding memory and the past, youth and old age, women and the nature of physical attraction, transgression and admitting transgressions, and, most touchingly, the passing of time and life's transitions.» Article by Manuel Dos Santos Fonseca, updated by Rob Edelman Read more: Manoel de Oliveira - Director - Films as Director:, Other Films:, Publicationshttp://www.filmreference.com/Directors-Mi-Pe/Oliveira-Manoel-de.html#ixzz16f9mwmVZ

69. Happy 102nd Birthday Master Oliveira! Long Life To Cinema! http://dererummundi.blogspot.com/2008/12/cem-anos-de-manoel-de-oliveira.html

70. Interview (excerpt, 2007) Not all the Portuguese get to 99 years, as is the case!Not all but some are older. Some tell an anecdote of a journalist - like you - who went to a village to visit a guy who was 120 years. As he had problems on the trip, arrived late and it was nearly midnight when he was received, and they were talking about how he ate, what did and did not to discover what was the type of life that best suited to go well in old age. While they were talking he heard a big noise, a door opening and closing, and more noise in the corridor, and the elder says, "No worries, it's my older brother who is always drunk." The only explanation I can give to the question of age is to be a caprice of nature. We are not complicit in this because it doesn’t depend on us nor is a self virtue. José Régio already thought of writing a book about the torture of living life ... I myself, at this age, sometimes I feel a certain weariness of living.This is not what one thinks when sees you!Just feel tired. To shave every day, lifting, dressing, bathing, breakfast, eat, chew, swallow ... All these things easy and commonplace but they are always the same. It's the same thing, same order, watching television ... All this is boring.Life is boring?The only thing that comforts me and allows me to relax, truly relax is when I'm making a movie. Not even when I'm writing I'm excited, if the idea appears it’s okay, but if it does not come, I get very restless. Then, when the idea comes, I’m happy and I write, but it only while I’m making a movie that I feel peaceful and quiet. I forget that I have to get up early, I forget to eat, I forget everything, and I'm there.It means that while people go on vacation, you prefer to make movies!I make films, they are my real vacation. http://dn.sapo.pt/gente/entrevistas/interior.aspx?content_id=1172032

71. TECHNICAL DATA / CREDITS TITLE:MANOEL DE OLIVEIRA – TAKE 102 – Homage to the Portuguese Movie Director, Manoel de Oliveira – 102 years old and still working IMAGES:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/movies/09lim.html?_r=4&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin; http://diariodigital.sapo.pt/news.asp?section_id=14&id_news=481907; http://sozekeyser.blogspot.com/2008/12/feliz-aniversrio-manoel-de-oliveira.html; http://arthoughts.wordpress.com/equipa/; http://cineuropa.org/film.aspx?lang=ing&documentID=143113; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283422/. TEXT:http://www.filmreference.com/Directors-Mi-Pe/Oliveira-Manoel-de.html#ixzz16f9mwmVZ; http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manoel_de_Oliveira; http://diariodigital.sapo.pt/news.asp?section_id=14&id_news=481907; http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/movies/09lim.html?_r=4&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin;; http://dn.sapo.pt/inicio/artes/interior.aspx?content_id=1726471&seccao=Cinema; http://sigarra.up.pt/up/web_base.gera_pagina?P_pagina=1000649; http://cineuropa.org/film.aspx?lang=ing&documentID=2259#; http://arthoughts.wordpress.com/equipa/; http://cineuropa.org/film.aspx?lang=ing&documentID=143113; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283422/; http://vitoriadeportuga.skyrock.com/8.html;http://www.amordeperdicao.pt/basedados_filmes.asp?filmeid=80; http://cinema.cineclick.uol.com.br/galeria/carregar/titulo/mostra-2010/id/635/foto/7712/; http://www.mostra.org/exib_filme_arquivo.php?ano=29&filme=6013; http://fiatluxcarpediem.blogspot.com/2008/12/os-100-anos-de-manoel-de-oliveira-ou-o.html. MUSIC Source:CD from my personal archive. Slide 1 to 52: Carlos Paredes, Verdes Anos, from the album Carlos Paredes – Uma Guitarra com Gente Dentro – Antologia, 2002. DURATION:about 4:00 minutes. DATE:November 2010. SELECTION, ORGANIZATION AND EFFECTS:Suy (Conceição Ludovino). Suy © 2010