résumé
Based on one of the most important and popular works of Portuguese literature, Doomed Love was recently revealed to North American audiences as one of de Oliveira’s greatest works. Closely following Camilo Castelo Branco’s eponymous novel from 1862, de Oliveira creates a radical and unprecedented fusion of theatre, literature and cinema, which, according to Jonathan Rosenbaum, is rivaled only by von Stroheim’s Greed. In this doleful tale of forbidden passion, the doomed love of the title belongs to Teresa Albuquerque and Simão Botelho, whose feuding aristocratic families pave the way for a deadly ménage- à-trois when another woman steps in to take Teresa’s place. De Oliveira credits Straub-Huillet’s Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach as one of the major influences on the film, which is told through a bold series of tableaux vivants. Like the other works in his “Tetralogy,” Doomed Love makes great use of omniscient narration and a host of distancing effects (static camera, lack of close-ups), “paring things down to the unspectacular, so that when something dramatic does flare up . . . the result is tremendous” (Elliott Stein). The film was originally shot on 16mm and made for Portuguese TV where it unsurprisingly floundered and was subjected to scorn. But its mythic status grew and when a 35mm blow-up was theatrically released some time later, this film maudit was hailed as a European masterpiece, ensuring that de Oliveira was “recognized as one of the great modern filmmakers” (Randal Johnson). No cinephile can afford to miss this date with Doomed Love. (Cinematheque Ontario)