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
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