IGN.com|AskMen.com|Rotten Tomatoes|GameSpy|FilePlanet|TeamXbox|CheatsCodesGuides|GameStats|Direct2Drive
RottenTomatoes.com
Register | Log In | What is RT?
Home Movies DVD Celebrities News Critics Trailers & Pictures The Vine Forums
Box Office | Best Of | Certified Fresh | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches by subscribing to our Google Subscribed Links profile.
 
Movies / On DVD / A Talking Picture
A Talking Picture

Rate This Movie

Write a Review
Share This Movie
Add to List
Buy Poster

Bookmark and Share

A Talking Picture (2003)

74%
100%
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
74 %
Reviews Counted: 23 Fresh: 17  Rotten:6 Average Rating: 6.5/10

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins

Synopsis: A contemporary Odyssey from Portugal's finest cineaste, Manuel de Oliveira, this quiet, stirring drama of subtly epic proportions was made when director Oliveira was 96-years-old. Beautiful young history professor Rosa Maria (Oliveira veteran Leonor Silveira) is escorting her... A contemporary Odyssey from Portugal's finest cineaste, Manuel de Oliveira, this quiet, stirring drama of subtly epic proportions was made when director Oliveira was 96-years-old. Beautiful young history professor Rosa Maria (Oliveira veteran Leonor Silveira) is escorting her precocious eight-year-old daughter Maria Joana (Filipa de Almeida) on a cruise from their native Portugal to Bombay. The first half of the film is a history lesson illustrated through dialectical exchange between the two. Prompted by tourist attractions in France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey, Rosa weaves together a narrative of myth, legend, and fact, often blurring the line that separates them. The second half of the film is dominated by one long dinner conversation, when Rosa joins the captain of her ship (John Malkovitch, BEING JOHN MALKOVITCH, KLIMT) at his table. They are also accompanied by a successful French executive (Catherine Deneuve, DANCER IN THE DARK, 8 WOMEN), a former Italian model (Stefania Sandrelli), and a Greek actress (Irene Papas). As their discussion unfolds, with each speaking in his or her native language, the ship moves toward a startling conclusion that will reveal the director's bold message about the contemporary global community. [More]

Genre: Sports/Recreation

Starring: Catherine Deneuve, John Malkovich, Irene Pappas, Stefania Sandrelli, Leonor Silveira

Director: Manoel de Oliveira
Producer: Paolo Branco

DVD Info

Release:

May 4, 2005

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region (unknown)
  • Keep Case
  • Letterboxed - 1.85

Additional Release Material:

  • Trailer

Text/Photo Galleries:

  • Still Gallery
  • Filmography - Manoel de Oliveira - Director
  • Essay - "Manoel de Oliveira: A Career" - Richard Pena, Program Director, Film Society of Lincoln Center and Associate Professor of Film Studies, Columbia University

Reviews

 
T-Meter Critics
 
 
Top Critics
 
 
RT Community
 
 
My Critics
 
 
My Friends
 
 
DVD
 
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By: Name | Fresh | Rotten | Date | Source
 
 
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
01/26/06
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

Though Oliveira's stylistic approach may be more relaxed and laid back in tune with seasoned years, his keen and cutting insights point to a mind on fire, as if on mental Viagra.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/26/07
Prairie Miller
Long Island Press
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
05/26/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
09/26/05
Onion AV Club
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
07/29/05
Lester Pimentel
PopMatters
Ratings Image
3/5

A veteran filmmaker's moment of reflection and didacticism, and one supposes he's earned it.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/27/05
Tim Cogshell
Boxoffice Magazine
Ratings Image
N/A

Talking is about all that happens here.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/24/05
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat
Ratings Image
4.5/5

Oliveira establishes a sense of timelessness only to catch his audience up short with a film that ultimately could scarcely be a more timely comment on the world in which we live.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/18/05
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

Structured like a chatty play in three acts.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/17/05
Ella Taylor
L.A. Weekly
Ratings Image
2.5/4

Extremely slow and won't be for those with no appetite for lengthy, self-serious monologues, but it also has a sharp, personal edge to it.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/11/05
Mary Brennan
Seattle Times
Ratings Image
1.5/4

Not only is this approach boring but also it is an artificial contrivance that leaves little for the actors to do but regurgitate facts in an encyclopedic way.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/10/05
Jonathan W. Hickman
Entertainment Insiders
Ratings Image
B

Feels like cinema's grand old man is leaving us a legacy with grace and compassion.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/10/05
Sean Axmaker
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Ratings Image
N/A

A Talking Picture might be an apt title, but it does not mean that it is automatically a picture worth contemplating.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/03/05
Boyd van Hoeij
european-films.net
Ratings Image
3/4

A potent and troubling meditation on the state of Western society.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/21/05
Walter V. Addiego
San Francisco Chronicle
Ratings Image
N/A

A thoughtful, provocative effort that makes up for its narrative failings with its astute philosophical musings.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/27/04
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

A devastatingly simple portrait of the ways in which we lull ourselves into believing that knowledge, academic or worldly, is our inviolate defense against annihilation.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/19/04
Maria Garcia
Film Journal International
Ratings Image
2/5

This intermittently interesting symbolic tour through European history once again places ideas over aesthetics and technique.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/10/04
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Ratings Image
3/4

The freeze-frame finale is a stunner.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/10/04
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
Ratings Image
4/5

The Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira again shows himself to be a master of the medium with this sharply cut gem of a film about a mother and daughter sailing the Mediterranean.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/10/04
Manohla Dargis
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
4/4

This is a lovely, lively, timely treat for the eyes and mind.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/09/04
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
See More Topics...

Related Forums

Click here to be the first to post a message on this forum.

Around the Network

• A Talking Picture at Rotten Tomatoes
• A Talking Picture at AskMen
 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | ModCenter | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2008, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.