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A ilha dos amores

The Island of Love
Paulo Rocha
P, Japan 1982
169 min
V'18

A major figure of Portuguese cinema, Paulo Rocha started to work in the early 1970’s on a project on the life of Wenceslau de Morães (1854-1929), a Portuguese writer and former Navy officer who settled in Japan in the late 19th century. Disappointed with the politicalsituation of its time, Morães, a secret man of unstable temperament and absorbed by his own demons, would never return from the Far East until his death. The Carnation Revolution in 1974 and its own political convulsions forced Rocha to change the project and a year later he also leaves for Japan. He did no more in the years to come than to prepare, write, rewrite, and modify this complex and immense film-fleuve, finally shot between Lisbon and Tokyo from 1978 to 1981. It’s a fusion film, a clash of two worlds and two cultures (West and East). The “Nine Songs” collection of poems by the Chinese Qu Yuan organize the chapters. The rituals and the erotic travel in this film surrounded and constantly threatened by death come from the greco-roman mythology and the greatest poetic work of Portuguese literature “Os Lusíadas”, by Camões. If Morães, the wandering Portuguese, is a doomed man, he is also a mirror of his doomed country. A ILHA DOS AMORES is one of the most modern and daring films ever made. (Francisco Ferreira)

Credits
  • Luís Miguel Cintra - Wenceslau de Morães
  • Clara Joana - Isabel/Venus
  • Zita Duarte - Francesca
  • Jorge Silva Melo - Painter
  • Paulo Rocha - Camilo Pessanha
  • Yoshiko Mita - O-Yone
  • Atsuko Murakumo - Ko-Haru
  • Paolo Rocha
  • Elso Roque
  • Kozo Okazaki
  • Acácio de Almeida
  • Pedro Caldas
  • Yugi Hiyoshi
  • Yoshio Sugano
  • Paulo Brandão
  • Batica
  • Cristina Reis
  • Takeharu Sakaguchi
  • Batica
  • Cristina Reis
  • Takeharu Sakaguchi
Suma Filmes
Cinemateca Portuguesa
DCP
col
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