Mysteries of Lisbon

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Mysteries of Lisbon

2011

4h 26m

History

Drama

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Popcornmeter

85%

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55 Reviews

70%

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1,000+ Ratings

A 19th-century Portuguese man recalls his youth in a church-run orphanage.

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Critics Consensus

Mysteries of Lisbon achieves an epic heft through an unhurried pace and lush photography, its beguiling episodes culminating in an impressive whole that justifies a lengthy runtime.

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Jonathan Romney

Sight & Sound

All these could be seen as gratuitous flourishes of auteur style, but they serve to undermine the naturalistic illusion, to remind us that everything we see is an effect of narration - and perhaps, more than that, of dream.

Jul 6, 2018

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Derek Malcolm

London Evening Standard

If you have time, dip in.

Rated: 3/5

Dec 9, 2011

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Tim Robey

Daily Telegraph (UK)

[It reminds] us of Ruiz's gifts with light and colour, his ambitions with narrative, his sometimes interesting, sometimes frustrating remoteness, and his preoccupations with myth, the avant-garde and 19th-century classicism, all at once.

Rated: 3/5

Dec 8, 2011

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Matthew Wilder

Nashville Scene

"A cascade of hidden personal backstories that you feel could extend out to all of humankind."

Oct 23, 2024

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David Bax

Battleship Pretension

No space in the frame-indeed, no second in Mysteries of Lisbon's very long runtime-is wasted.

May 31, 2020

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Peter Sobczynski

eFilmCritic.com

An eminently binge-worthy saga filled with excitement, drama, humor, history, beautiful photography and good performance

May 29, 2020

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Alec B

A gorgeous and intimate epic. The movie convinces you completely that every coincidence, revealed in near endless flashback, makes total sense.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

10/10/24

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Audience Member

Genteel and epic in scope, barely holds on to interest despite beautiful cinematography

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Audience Member

Beautiful to watch with incredible attention to detail, Raoul Ruiz' masterfully crafted Mysteries of Lisbon is a triumph of modern cinema that justifies its intimidating run time with an ambitious narrative structure and thought-provoking meditations on storytelling and the trustworthiness of human recollection.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

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Audience Member

Damn this movie is long..

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

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Audience Member

A very long melodrama based on a classic 19th Century Portuguese novel. Much of the acting is quite good if a bit stiff and some of the dialog is baroque and unrealistic. It has almost soap opera like twists and complications but the story is slow -- very slow, sometimes boringly slow. A film to be enjoyed for its cinematography and period flourishes perhaps but not a film many will find worth sitting through.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

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Audience Member

complex and a haul at 7 hours but a well crafted epic

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Raúl Ruiz

Director

João Arrais

João Child

Adriano Luz

Father Dinis

Maria João Bastos

Countess Ângela de Lima

Ricardo Pereira

Knife Eater

José Afonso Pimentel

João Adult

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19%

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Synopsis

A 19th-century Portuguese man recalls his youth in a church-run orphanage.

Director: Raúl Ruiz
Screenwriter: Carlos Saboga, Camilo Castelo Branco
Distributor: Music Box Films
Genre: History, Drama
Original Language: Portuguese
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 17, 2011, Limited
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Aug 5, 2011
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 16, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $110.5K
Runtime: 4h 26m

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