Back

A portuguesa

The Portuguese Woman
Forum
© Basilisco Filmes
His home is war. Her home is Portugal. Yet the young, newly married wife of Lord von Ketten is determined to make her husband’s family abode, an inhospitable castle on a cliff in northern Italy, into her home. When he sets off to battle with his men and tries to send her back to her parents, she decides to stay. Over the eleven long years he stays away, she insists to her relatives on their rare visits that this is where she belongs, even as they see the house as her mausoleum and lament her loneliness. And she does indeed carve out a life for herself here. She reads, sings, plays music, dances, swims and rides in the forest. She also rears a young wolf to which she is closer than to her two sons – or at least that’s what’s suggested by this adaptation of Robert Musil’s novella “The Portuguese Woman”, which is set in the Middle Ages and features magnificent costumes and opulent images captured by the elegant, gliding camerawork. The animals are positioned in conspicuous fashion, as if they stem from somewhere else, just like the figure of Ingrid Caven in a shoulder-less evening gown cooing songs or reciting Walther von der Vogelweide in the courtyard. Tandaradei!

Film excerpt

by Rita Azevedo Gomes
with Clara Riedenstein, Marcello Urgeghe, Ingrid Caven, Rita Durão, Pierre Léon Portugal 2018 Portuguese,  German,  Subtitles: English 136’ Colour

With

  • Clara Riedenstein (The Portuguese Woman)
  • Marcello Urgeghe (Von Ketten)
  • Ingrid Caven (Wonderer)
  • Rita Durão (Moorish Slave)
  • Pierre Léon (Old Servant)
  • João Vicente (Pero Lobato)
  • Luna Picolli-Truffaut (Antonie)
  • Manuela de Freitas (Seer)
  • Alexandre Alves Costa (Trent's Bishop)
  • Fernando Rodrigues (Ferant)

Crew

Written and directed byRita Azevedo Gomes
DialogueAgustina Bessa-Luís
CinematographyAcácio de Almeida
EditingRita Azevedo Gomes
MusicJosé Mário Branco
Sound DesignOlivier Blanc
SoundAntónio Porém Pires, Tiago Matos
Production DesignRoberta Azevedo Gomes, Elsa Bruxelas
CostumesRute Correia, Tânia Franco
Make-upRaquel Laranjo
ProducersRita Azevedo Gomes, Basilisco Filmes, António Câmara Manuel, Duplacena

Produced by

Basilisco Filmes

Cascais, Portugal

+351 914 753134

Duplacena

Lissabon, Portugal

+351 213230074

duplacena.com duplacena.com

World sales

Basilisco Filmes

Cascais, Portugal

+351 914 753134

Festival photos

Rita Azevedo Gomes

© Basilisco Filmes

Born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1952. She started studying Fine Arts in Lisbon before switching over to film and theatre. Besides working as a filmmaker, Rita Azevedo Gomes also works as exhibition curator at the Cinemateca Portuguesa in Lisbon.

Filmography

1990 O Som da Terra a Tremer (The Sound of the Earth Shaking); 93 min. 1996 O Cinema Vai ao Teatro (Cinema Goes to the Theatre); 26 min. 1998 Intromissões: Parabéns Manoel de Oliveira (Intromissions: Congratulations Manoel de Oliveira); 55 min. 1999 King Arthur; 30 min. 2001 Frágil Como o Mundo (Fragile as the World); 91 min. 2003 Altar; 72 min. 2005 A Conquista de Faro (The Conquest of Faro); 33 min. 2007 A 15ª Pedra: Manoel de Oliveira e João Bénard da Costa em Conversa (The 15th Stone: Manoel de Oliveira and João Bénard da Costa in Conversation); 117 min. 2009 A Colecção Invisível (The Invisible Collection); 56 min. 2011 A Vingança de uma Mulher (A Woman’s Revenge); 100 min. 2016 Correspondências (Correspondences); 145 min. 2018 A Portuguesa (The Portuguese Woman)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2019

Dates

Feb 08 18:00

CineStar 8

Ticket code 080281

Code for ticket purchase at the ticket counter
Download iCal file
Date lies in the past

Feb 09 13:00

Delphi Filmpalast

Ticket code 090321

Code for ticket purchase at the ticket counter
Download iCal file
Date lies in the past

Feb 12 13:45

CineStar 8

Ticket code 120282

Code for ticket purchase at the ticket counter
Download iCal file
Date lies in the past

Feb 17 20:00

Cubix 9

Ticket code 170891

Code for ticket purchase at the ticket counter
Download iCal file
Date lies in the past