Reflexive Stasis, Scale Reversal and the Myth of Modern Cinema

Realist Cinema as World Cinema

“…Because the tiles represent scenes later enacted by live characters in the film, it soon becomes clear that they cannot possibly be real pre-existing azulejos. Indeed, a closer look reveals them to be fragments of the film's storyboard, artfully painted then tricked into the appearance of traditional tiles -the frieze with floral motif around each set of tiles are actually the only real azulejos in those images, as explained by Isabel Branco (Nagib 2017). The f irst set of tiles shows a living room with a macaw on a perch and a man in his morning robe sitting and holding a teacup close to his lips; two men formally dressed are standing in the background (Figure 6.3).…”

“…Intermedial interludes of realist aim such as this proliferate in the f ilm to further effect, an example being a scene that has already been the subject of my previous attention (Nagib 2014). In it, Father Dinis, his assisting nun Dona Antónia and Pedro's mother Ângela are in conversation, unaware that Pedro is watching and overhearing them through his bedroom window.…”

“…As I have highlighted elsewhere (Nagib 2014), manipulation of scale and proportion that magnifies or shrinks figures at will is a fundamental property of photography and cinema, with the close-up being the most radical distortion of the real enabled by these media. The effect of such distortions on the spectator is one that Mary Ann Doane (2009: 63) directly connects with the growth of capitalism, as the subject is situated as 'epistemologically inadequate' and 'incapable of ever actually mapping or understanding the totality of social forces that determine his or her position'.…”

“…Indeed, Isabel Branco reveals (Nagib 2017) that the entire interior and exterior shooting, in Mysteries of Lisbon, was carried out on real locations, which were transformed to a major or lesser degree according to the needs. Numerous palaces and quintas (villas) in Portugal were utilised to that end, including Palácio Foz (where the scene with the macaw and Alberto de Magalhães takes place), Palácio Quintela, Palácio da Mitra, Quinta da Francelha, Quinta da Ribafria and others.…”

6. Intermedial History-Telling

“…On the other hand, it would be mistaken to discard the auteurist approach entirely, given Ruiz's spellbinding trademark gimmicks strewn all over Mysteries of Lisbon. Here we find again the static characters that move around through invisible sliding or rotating stage devices and postproduction tricks, as seen in Ruiz's Time Regained (Le Temps retrouvé, d'après l'oeuvre de Marcel Proust, 1999); the feverish, distorted visions which account for the otherworldly quality of Thee Crowns of the Sailor (Les Trois couronnes du matelot, 1983); the paintings whose characters take on life then freeze back into artworks, which make up the core of The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting (L'Hypothèse du tableau volé, 1978), all of which, Isabel Branco confirms (Nagib 2017), were devised by Ruiz in the first place. Though all these stylistic procedures contribute to move the various plots and subplots forward to a coherent conclusion, they also serve as distractions, even disruptive elements, disturbing the sense of narrative progression and calling attention to the reality of the medium and, not least, that of the author(s).…”