Voyage to the Beginning of the World Movie Review 1996

Autobiographical piece by 88-year-old director de Oliveira, who has been making movies since the silent film era. Mastroianni, in his last role, plays the somewhat fictionalized director named Manoel who travels to Portugal to shoot a film. Along the way he points out crumbling landmarks that he remembers from his childhood, an apt metaphor for the memories where the majority of his life now resides. Along with him is French actor Afonso (Gautier), who makes a visit to an elderly aunt (de Castro) who poignantly tells Afonso about his father and the way things used to be. Slow moving but lyrical ode to aging and the changing perspective it gives. French and Portuguese with subtitles.

Distribution

Strand Releasing, 1460 4th St., Ste. 302, Santa Monica, CA 90401, Phone: (310)395-5002, Fax: (310)395-2502, Email: strand@strandrel.com, URL: http://www.strandreleasing.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 93 minutes.
Originally from Portuguese.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Growing Older, Filmmaking

Screenplay

Manoel de Oliveira

Cast

Marcello Mastroianni, Jean-Yves Gautier, Leonor Silveira, Diogo Doria, Isabel de Castro

Cinematography

Renato Berta

Director

Manoel de Oliveira

Music

Emmanuel Nunes

Producer

Paulo Branco, Strand Releasing