Rating: 4/5
Criterion Challenge 2023 | 5/52 | Made in Portugal
The film takes place in the Fontainhas district of Portugal. It is a shantytown for the disadvantaged and immigrants from former Portuguese territories.
Clothide and Tina are close friends who live in the district. Tina recently gave birth. Clothide tries to bring the father around, but he bails.
At home, Tina turns on the gas for her stove, letting it fill the room so she and the baby can die. The father comes home, sees the scene, and goes to bed.
The father takes the baby to the more affluent parts of Lisbon to beg for money. A nurse named Edwarda buys him a sandwich and milk for the baby. But something made the baby sick. The father tracks down Edwarda, who becomes entwined in his, Tina, and Clothide’s life.
The movie has no musical score. The city and atmosphere form the soundscape. There is minimal dialogue in the film. Most shots are static compositions of the characters going through their lives. Every frame of this movie is beautiful.
The quiet observational quality has Jim Jarmusch vibes but with a greater sense of weight to the depressive lives the characters live.
The movie’s fictional nature doesn’t detract from its ability to capture the authentic lives of people in the background.
It is still a fictional story with lighting, high-end cameras, and hired actors. It wouldn’t be until director Pedro Costa made his next film, In Varda’s Room, that he blurred the lines.