Mysteries of Lisbon
Mysteries of Lisbon Image
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Metascore
82 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 21 Critics What's this?

User Score
5.7 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 16 Ratings

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  • Summary: The core story centers on Joao, the bastard child of an ill-fated romance between two members of the aristocracy who are forbidden to marry, and his quest to discover the truth of his parentage. But this is just the start of an engrossing tale that follows a multitude of characters whose fates conjoin, separate and then rejoin again over three decades in Portugal, Spain, France and Italy. (Music Box Films)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 21
  3. Negative: 1 out of 21
  1. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    Aug 4, 2011
    100
    Once you start to ride with the rapturous, gorgeous, digressive symphony of images and words and music in this film it's completely absorbing and unlike anything you've ever seen.
  2. Empire
    Reviewed by: David Parkinson
    Dec 5, 2011
    80
    Storytelling of breathtaking scale and grandeur, even if the complex plotting may twist your synapses along the way.
  3. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Joshua Rothkopf
    Aug 2, 2011
    60
    Comfortable with subtle Proustian detachment, the director has taken another stab at colossal scope, this time getting lost in the cerebral folds.
  4. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    Aug 5, 2011
    20
    The result is a dull, high-minded soap opera.

See all 21 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. CitizenCharlie
    8
    The Mysteries of Lisbon are not so much mysteries as they are a series of conversations which always lead to some sort of revelation. These revelations are melodramatic punch lines with interlocking characters continuously finding out who their parents are, where they came from, the results of lost loves, and everything in between. If the script was written in a linear fashion with no time jumps or flashbacks, there would be no mysteries; it would just be a meandering retelling of Romeo and Juliet (and all of their cousins).

    The word meandering sounds harsh and an indictment of a script which does not know where it is going. However, I mean meandering as in there are multiple lead characters to follow and each of them has a very complicated past which takes its time to tell. The Mysteries of Lisbon is four and a half hours long; the director threw out accepted norms for audience patience in favor of showing the whole story. It is based on an 1854 novel by the Portuguese author Camilo Castelo Branco and it appears it was filmed in an unabridged fashion.

    The main character is a village priest, Padre Denis (Adriano Luz), who at first is indirectly involved in a coupleâ    … Expand
  2. babaji
    8
    Saw this at the San Francisco Film Festival in April 2011. Long production, well produced, well acted and epic in scope. If you go for large epic tales, this is a good one to watch.… Expand
  3. emdashm
    7
    A little over half for the four hour-plus-intermission riveting BBC miniseries-esque film that played at the new Bunim Munroe center at Film Society last weekend. The first half was incredible! The characters, the plot twists, dialogue, costumes, intrigue. Passion. Managed to feed the flame of 19th-century obsession for a whole two hours, that is until the second act when it imploded of its own over-the-top quirks and romantics. Would it really have been asking too much to sustain the handsome, childlike wonder that was Joao for just a little while longer?… Expand

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