I'm Going Home

A slight, late work from nonagenarian Manoel de Oliviera, reputed to be Portugal’s greatest director. This story of an old actor played by Michel Piccoli is short but slow, and yet still very watchable. My problem is summed up in Oliveira’s own words, “The cinema does not exist. Theatre exists. Cinema is a way of capturing it.” Like an old guy with nothing left to prove, he lives according to his dictum. Much of this film captures Piccoli acting on stage, or finally (and improbably) on a film set. But what really makes it breathe are scenes of streets, parks, and cafes in Paris. There is some wit and some point in, for example, shooting a whole dialogue sequence focussed on the new shoes that are the topic of the conversation, rather than on the faces of the conversants. The framings are almost always unusual, what’s included, what’s excluded, suggesting a past master who doesn’t have to give a damn anymore what viewers think or want. Piccoli is poignant and revelatory, but the film is ultimately more schematic than plausible, more stagebound than real. Catherine Deneuve and John Malkovich have bit parts, testament to Oliviera’s emeritus status. (2001, dvd, n.) *6* (MC-86, RT-96.)