Mysteries of Lisbon - Raul Ruiz

MYSTERIES OF LISBON

The late Raoul Ruiz is a vocal opponent of the ‘central thesis’ theory, the unwritten rule that every story must deal with a central conflict. In his final film, he stayed true to his ideal; the result is a convoluted story that moves between different places and different generations. Mysteries of Lisbon begins with a seemingly central story of an orphaned boy without a surname, Joao – but, what’s in a name? Joao’s misfortune turns out to be a peripheral story, and subsequently, we are spiraled into a labyrinth of hidden identities and memories. Love, death, redemption, forgiveness, greed, jealousy, desire, revenge, loss and empathy – all of these timeless themes of fiction – are conveyed by this ‘story within story within story’. Whereas in A Separation, Farhadi maintained an intimate, dynamic, overcrowded setting, with Mysteries of Lisbon, Ruiz kept it formal, distant and void. In both, however, the general idea is that we are so consumed by our personal tragedies that it is no longer possible to connect to others. The difference is that while A Separation ends with a mysterious deadlock, Mysteries of Lisbon provides an answer to all of its mysteries, although that answer is not quite fathomable, at least for me at this moment - it is, perhaps, more of a wishful thought.

Rating: 8.5/10

A Separation - Asghar Farhadi

A SEPARATION

There is one shot in A Separation that specifically caught my attention when the film just began. It is when Simin attempts to visit her estranged husband, Narder, only to be prevented by the porters who refuse to carry the wardrobes up one more floor. This obstruction instantly reveals a major, overarching theme of this brilliant work, that is stinginess, or to be exact, ‘the limit of human generosity’. One can perhaps wonder whether this is a commentary on the reality of Iranian society specifically – maybe, Asghar Farhadi’s intention was just simply. However, even if his film was not meant to be a depressing portrait of human nature universally, his careful observation and intimate empathy certainly have made it so. The trap that, in his opinion, every Iranian seems to be caught in turns out to be an indiscriminate trap of humanity. Narder and Simin are torn apart by a struggle between past and future, only to find out that every present moment is indeed a battle in itself. It is, indeed, difficult to get through every moment of this life when there is no standard, no boundary and no clarity whatsoever, no matter how hard we try to define them.

A Separation won the Golden Bear at Berlin 2011. It remained one of the best films of the year.

Rating: 8/10