Manoel De Oliveira
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
This preeminent Portuguese filmmaker began his career as an actor and documentary filmmaker in the 1920s and turned to fictional works in 1942. When his first feature, the brilliantly photographed children's film "Aniki-Bo" failed to find an audience, he retreated for close to 15 years before returning to moviemaking. By the time, Oliveira began to receive worldwide attention as a prominent director, he was already in his 60s. Thirty years later, he was still making accomplished films that captivated critics and audiences.
The son of a prominent businessman, Manoel de Oliveira spent part of his youth engaging in athletic pursuits. By the age of 17, he had dropped out of school and had begun working in the family business, all the while pursuing leisure time activities as varied as racing cars (which he continued to do until 1940) and the cinema. Strongly influenced by Soviet filmmakers as well as the French impressionists (especially Jean Vigo), German expressionists (such as Walther Ruttmann) and American pioneers like D.W. Griffith, Oliveira began his film career at age 19 when he worked on an uncompleted film about Portugal's participation in World War I. Over the next two years, he acted in "Fatima Milagrosa" (1928), directed by his acting teacher Rino Lupo and collaborated with painter Ventura Porfirio on another unrealized animated motion picture. Over the next three years, Oliveira worked on his first silent documentary, "Douro, Faima Fluvial/Hard Labor on the River Douro" (1931), establishing a pattern of working as writer, editor, producer and director.
Over the course of the 1930s, Oliveira devoted his energies to several abortive features and produced only a handful of forgettable documentaries (e.g., "Estautuas de Lisbon/Statues of Lisbon" 1932). He also had a substantial role in Portugal's premiere all-sound feature "A Cancao de Lisbon/Song of Lisbon" (1934). By the time the 40s rolled around, Oliveira was at work on his first feature, "Aniki-Bobo" (1942), which combined elements of French poetic realism with what came to be regarded as Italian neorealism. The film, however, proved unsuccessful in his homeland, partly due to its location shooting and its frank depiction of street urchins. (Several Portuguese critics deemed it immoral). Perhaps ironically, these qualities were exactly what drew praise from foreign critics. Nearly forty years later, partly from repeated airings on Portuguese television, "Aniki-Bobo" became one of the most popular films in the country.
After the devastating reception of "Aniki-Bobo," Oliveira retreated to the life of a gentleman farmer while not wholeheartedly abandoning scriptwriting. It took 14 years and a sojourn to Germany to study color techniques, however, before he was able to secure financing for his first color film "O Pintor e a Cidade/The Painter and the City" (1956), a documentary set in his birthplace of Oporto. By contrasting photographic shots of the city with the paintings of artist Antonio Cruz, Oliveira crafted what one critic called a "philosophical essay in film language about the behavior of the human being in a town." The filmmaker followed with the near silent "O Pao/Bread" (1959), which traced the production of loaves from the wheatfields through to the consumer.
1963 marked the beginning of Oliveira's worldwide acclaim. That year's superb "Acto da Primavera/The Passion of Jesus," ostensibly a documentary of a staging of a Passion Play that Oliveira framed in a political context. Some theorists have posited that "Acto da Primavera" coupled with the same year's short "A Caca/The Hunt," which centered on attempts by a hunting party to rescue on of its members who has fallen into a bog, as reflective of the director's views on heaven and hell. Certainly the former possesses a certain spiritual dimension while the latter was originally meant to be a discourse on violence (although censorship forced him to adopt a more hopeful resolution). The pair of films brought him further attention from outside his homeland (Oliveira was the subject of retrospectives at the 1964 Locarno Film Festival and at the Paris Cinematheque the following year) but also marked the beginning of an eight-year hiatus in filmmaking.
At the age of 63, Oliveira was asked to join a filmmaking cooperative comprised mostly of members of the New Portuguese cinema. He turned out what has come to be called his "Quartet of Frustrated Loves," which began with "O Passado e o Presente/Past and Present" (1971), a satirical look at marriage among the upper classes that many praised for its visual inventiveness (with a great debt to Bunuel) and aural wonders. "Benilde ou a Virgem Mae/Bernilde: Virgin and Mother" (1975) was based on a play by long-time associate Jose Regio that examined the predicament of a deeply religious young woman who mysteriously becomes pregnant. Oliveira stumbled in a major way with the third entry in his tetrology, "Amor de Perdicao/Ill-Fated Love" (1978) which was originally made as a four-part television presentation of Camilo Castello Branco's popular novel. Loosely inspired by "Romeo and Juliet" and unsuccessfully acted by amateurs, the production unfolded at a glacial pace and critics and audiences rejected it. It took the director four years to return to grace with what many consider one of his finest films, "Francesca" (1981). Adapted from a romance novel about an Englishwoman torn between Castello Branco and his friend Jose Augusto, "Francesca" contained highly imaginative, theatrical tableaux and literate dialogue. He concluded the quartet in 1992 with "O Dia do Desepero/The Day of Despair," an examination of the last years in the life of Castello Branco.
In between, Oliveira cast a backward glance and crafted the autobiographical "Memorias e Confissoes/Memories and Confessions" (1982), which after its completion he deemed was too personal to be released until after his death. Instead, he returned to the documentary form for "Lisboa Cultural/Cultural Lisbon" (1983) and "Nice a propos de Jean Vigo" (1984), which featured his eldest son in an examination of the city of Nice and its thriving Portuguese community. Also in 1983, Oliveira began working on his epic nearly seven-hour adaptation of Paul Claudel's 1929 verse drama "The Satin Slipper/Sapato de Cetim/Le Soulier de satin." Divided into four parts, this ambitious historical drama, shot on a $12 million dollar budget, inaugurated a new theme in the director's oeuvre, theatrical cinema. As he explained at the time, "Theater is the representation of life; cinema is the representation of life, not of theater. Theater and cinema are the same thing with different possibilities." Critics praised "The Satin Slipper" when it premiered at the 1985 Venice Film Festival, citing its visual splendor, humor and craftsmanship.
Building on those themes, Oliveira next filmed "Mon cas/My Case" (1986), another four-part piece that incorporated a one-act by Jose Regio performed three times, once with sound, another silently with a voice-over reading from Samuel Beckett and lastly with a reversed sound track. The fourth section drew on the biblical story of Job. Highly stylized, the film had little appeal beyond those interested in charting the director's career, Undaunted, the director tackled filmed opera in "Os Canibais/The Canibals" (1988), a triangular romance that contained fascinating tableaux but which left viewers a bit put off.
As the 90s progressed, Oliveira continued to work at a time when many of his contemporaries were either dead, too infirm to work or retired. The tireless director continued to make at least one film per year, some more successful than others. "The Valley of Abraham" (1993) was a cleverly conceived homage to Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" while "The Convent/O Convento" (1995) marked his first time using an International cast of "name" actors (in this case John Malkovich and Catherine Deneuve). Stylistically, "The Convent" which was essentially the Faust tale recast with an academic, seemed more accessible than much of his other work, but it also was replete with his sparing use of camera movement and closeups. For some, his work leaned to the old-fashioned while to his devotees, it provided an intelligent and often humorous viewpoint. The cerebral chamber piece "Party" (1996) did little to win him new admirers but "Journey to the Beginning of the World" (1997) improved his profile, partly because his semi-autobiographical film featured the final screen performance of Marcello Mastroianni playing a thinly-veiled version of the director. Even after achieving this career high and approaching his 90th birthday, Oliveira continued to work, turning out the tripartite omnibus "Inquietude/Anxiety" (1998) and "A Carta/The Letter/La Lettre" (1999), a modern-day adaptation of "La Princess de Cleves," about a woman (the luminous Chiara Mastroianni) striving to maintain her "good name" by avoiding an affair with a pop singer. While there was something quaint and decidedly anachronistic about the main character's dilemma, the director managed to package the proceedings beautifully.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Editing (Feature Film)
Director (Short)
Cinematography (Short)
Writer (Short)
Life Events
1925
Joined father's business aged 17 (date approximate)
1927
With others attempted--but failed--to make a film about Portugal's participation in WWI
1928
Acting debut in the silent "Fatima Milagrosa", directed by Rino Lupo
1929
Worked with painter Ventura Porfirio on an animated film that was eventually abandoned
1931
Filmmaking debut as director, editor and scenarist with the documentary "Douro, faina fluvial/Hard Labor on the River Douro"; re-released 1934 with a score by Luis de Freitas Branco
1933
Acted in "A cancao de Lisboa/Song of Lisbon"; Portugese's first full sound film
1942
Feature film writing and directing debut, the children's film "Aniki-Bobo"; at the time of its release was called "immoral" by many critics and proved a box office failure; inthe 1980s thanks to repeated showings on Portuguese television, it had become one of the country's most popular films
1943
Supported family by farming; wrote various scripts but no film projects came to fruition
1955
Traveled to Germany to study color film techniques
1956
First film in 14 years, "O pintor e a cidade/The Painter and the City", a 45-minute documentary which contrasted photographic images of the city of Oporto with native painter Antonio Cruz's canvasses; served as writer, director, editor, producer and cameraman
1959
Wrote, directed and produced "O pao/Bread", a documentary commissioned by Portugal's National Federation of Industrial Millers; also edited and served as cameraman
1963
Filmed a Passion Play in northeastern Portugal for the documentary "Acto da primavera/The Passion of Jesus"
1963
Helmed the fictional short "A Caca/The Hunt"
1964
Retrospective of film work at Locarno
1964
Last film on which he served as cameraman, the short "As pinturas do meu irmao Julio/My Brother Julio's Paintings" (filmed in 1959), a collaboration with poet Jose Regio and his painter brother Julio
1971
At age 63, made return to fiction films with "O passado e o presente/Past and Present"
1975
Directed "Benilde ou a Virgem Mae/Benilde: Virgin and Mother", based on a play by Jose Regio
1978
Made "Amor de Perdicao/Ill-Fated Love", a loose adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet"; first feature to receive widespread festival screenings
1981
"Francesca", based on the novel "Fanny Owen", selected for the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival
1981
Appeared in Joao Botelho's "I, the Other/Conversa acabada"
1982
Made the autobiographical "Memorias e confissoes/Memories and Confession", based on his family history; decided the film should not be released until after his death
1985
Wrote and directed the nearly seven-hour "Sapato de cetim/The Silk Slipper", an adaptation of Paul Claudel's 1929 verse drama "Le Soulier de satin"; spent two years making the film
1986
Adapted another Regio play as "Mon cas/My Case"; selected as opening night presentation at the Venice Film Festival
1987
Debut as playwright, "De Produndis", based on a story by Agustina Bessa Luis and poems by Jose Regio
1988
Edited, wrote and directed "Os Canibas/The Cannibals", an opera about a love triangle
1991
Wrote, directed and edited "The Divine Comedy", a drama set in an insane asylum
1992
Made biographical drama about Camilo Castelo Branco, "O dia do desespero/The Day of Despair"
1993
Using Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" as inspiration, wrote, edited and directed "Vale Abraao/The Valley of Abraham"
1995
Teamed Catherine Denueve and John Malkovich in the drama "The Convent"
1996
Wrote and directed "Party", starring Michel Piccoli as an aging Don Juan
1997
Made semi-autobiographical feature "Viagem ao principio do mundo/Voyage to the Beginning of the World", in which Marcello Mastroianni played a filmmaker named Manoel reminiscing about his childhood
1999
At age 90, modernized "La Princess de Cleves" as "A Carta/La lettre/The Letter", starring Chiara Mastroianni as a woman struggling to retain her virtue in contemporary society
2004
Helmed the dark comedy "Um Filme Falado/A Talking Picture"
2007
Helmed "Belle Toujours," an eccentric sequel to "Belle de Jour" with Bulle Ogier in the Catherine Deneuve role
Family
Companions
