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José and Pilar

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{{Infobox film

| name = José and Pilar | alt = | caption = Cinematic release poster | director = Miguel Gonçalves Mendes | runtime = 125 minutes | producer = Miguel Gonçalves Mendes
Ana Jordão
Daniela Siragusa | starring = José Saramago
Pilar del Río
Gael García Bernal
Fernando Meirelles | music = Adriana Calcanhoto
Bruno Palazzo
Camané
Luís Cila
Noiserv
Pedro Granato
Pedro Gonçalves | cinematography = Daniel Neves | editing = Cláudia Rita Oliveira | studio = JumpCut
O2
El Deseo | released = 25th September, 2010 (Brazil), 18th November, 2010 (Portugal), 21st January, 2011 (Spain) }}

José e Pilar is a 125 minute documentary following the last years of the Nobel Prize winner José Saramago, chiefly through his relationship with his resolute wife, Pilar del Río. Highly praised by the critics and the audience, the film seems to have accomplished to show the tenderness, the genuine integrity and the deeply concerned humanity behind such controversial figure and his spouse. It gathers sequences from from Madrid to Helsinki to Rio de Janeiro and covers Jose and Pilar's life in Lanzarote, their trips around the world (presenting José's books, signing autographs, making speeches) and their most simple, transient and quotidian moments, as for during the period José writes his "The Elephant's Journey". The film was produced by Miguel Mendes' JumpCut (Portugal), Fernando Meirelles's O2 and Pedro Almodóvar's El Deseo.

Synopsis

« "The Elephant's Journey", in which Saramago narrates the adventures and antics of an elephant transported from the court of King John III of Portugal to that of the Austrian Archduke Maximillian, is the starting point of José and Pilar. It shows us their daily life in Lanzarote and their trips around the globe. It is a surprising portrayal of an author throughout the creative process of a couple decided to change the world, or at least to make it a better place. It shows us an hidden Saramago, unravels any preconceived ideas we may have about the man and proves that genius and simplicity are indeed compatible. José and Pilar is a glimpse into one of the greatest creators of the Twentieth Century and shows us that, as Saramago said, "everythin can be told in a different way".» (in JumpCut)

Cast

Accomplishments and Nominations

  • Five months in the portuguese theaters (historical maximum).
  • The first portuguese film co-produced with internationally high ranked film production companies (O2 and El Deseio).
  • First portuguese film to ever open the International Documentary Film Festival of Lisbon (DocLisboa) (2010).
  • The portuguese (Portugal) film with the widest distribution and the largest audience to ever premiere in Brazil.
  • One of the greatests word-to-mouth successes of the 2010 Rio de Janeiro Film Festival (world premiere), among three hundred other films.
  • Opened the Ronda International Political Cinema Film Festival, introduced by the Judge Baltazar Garzón.
  • Got a 1300 people audience at the spanish premiere, in Madrid, on January the 17th.
  • Attended the Guadalajara International Film Festival, one of the most prestigious film festivals in Latin America (out of competiton).
  • Winner of the Audience Award in the São Paulo Film Festival.
  • Nominated by the Portuguese Authors Society for Best Film (2011).
  • Best Film of the year by Visão and top 5 Best Films by Time Out Portugal.
  • Nominated for Best Film, Best Editing and Best Soundtrack by the Brazilian Academy of Cinema.

Press

  • " (...) it's so carefully constructed that at times it feels like fiction, shuttling easily and with a surprising level of intimacy between Saramago, the public persona, and Saramago, the private man.” in Variety (USA).
  • "The film portrays Jose's clearheaded pessimism in his quests for human rights." in Cahiers du Cinema (Spain).
  • "An amazing film about the love that tied them and the exhausting daily routine of a public figure." in Diário de Notícias (Portugal).
  • "José and Pilar is a documentary, but a documentary that dissolves the illusion of the pure documentary. The end of a cicle. A monument to the glory of a writer." in Público (Portugal).
  • "Miguel Gonçalves Mendes took four years to make this documentary but watching it makes us realize it will last for much longer." in Expresso (Portugal)
  • "(...) a documentary about a unique relationship (...) you don't even have to be fond of José Saramago, his books or share his ideology to like José and Pilar." in Time Out (Portugal).

Facts

  • The shooting by Miguel Mendes and his team started in 2004 and was finished by 2008. In 2007, Fernando Meirelles started shooting Blindess, an adaptation from José Saramago's homonym book, starring Julian Moore, Gael García Bernal and Mark Ruffalo. The film premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Palm D'Or. José and Pilar portrays José and Meirelles' reactions after watching Blindness together.
  • José Saramago passed away before the final cut was finished but still watched a three-hour version of the film.
  • The official DVD and Soundtrack were released in the 18th of June in Portugal, one year after Jose's death. In the same day it was shown at the Portuguese Cinemateca, a special session that got a crowded theater.
  • Despite some of the DVD covers only read "Subtitles: Portuguese | Spanish", it actually also has English subtitles.
  • The film got extremely positive reviews among the portuguese comunity of film blogging.

Quotes

  • "The film is wrist-cutting touching. We see a brilliant man realizing his time is drawing near and feeling regretful about it. The day he thought about so much and kept delaying." (Fernando Meirelles).
  • "A lucidness like his was a privilege for few. I can't avoid the cliche: the world became poorer and blinder today." (Fernando Meirelles).
  • "This film catches the wit, poignancy and irony that characterized José Saramago. And his wife, Pilar, example of indispensable complicity during the last decades of the writer's productions. It unveils the camaraderie and friendship of two traveling people, based in their thinking and living philosophy, shoulder to shoulder with the funny and boring world and even each other." (Judge Baltazar Garzón)
  • "Admired and worshiped by millions of people who need this message of ethical responsibility." (Judge Baltazar Gárçon).
  • "José Saramago, whom I remember with great affection, will be a permanent part of the Western canon. He was the first Portuguese-language writer to win the Nobel Prize and is probably best known now for Blindness — an interesting antitotalitarian allegory. His many novels have astonishing variety and sensitivity and a versatile range that embraces tragicomedy and something close to old-fashioned quest romance. My own favorites among his books include the darkly comic The Gospel According to Jesus Christ and the frightening Blindness. But I have more pleasure in returning to his deeply comic works, such as The Stone Raft, The History of the Siege of Lisbon and, most of all, The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis. In all of his wonderful meditations upon the ruefulness of our lives, there is always the spirit of laughter beckoning us in the art of somehow going on. His achievement is one of the enlargements of life." (Harold Bloom)
  • "I have ideas for novels. Pilar has ideas for life. And I still don't know what is more important." (José Saramago, in José and Pilar)
  • "The world is an order of chaos that remains undecipherable." (José Saramago)
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