José and Pilar (2010)

Original title

José e Pilar

Directed by

Miguel Gonçalves Mendes

Genre

documentary film

Country

Brazil, Portugal, Spain

Runtime

2h 05m

Rating

7.3 of 10 from 27 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary follows Nobel Prize winner José Saramago and his wife Pilar del Río in the last years of his life. It shows their everyday routines, travels, and public events as he works on a new book.

tenderintimatecontemplativeaffectionateslow-pacedobservationalwarmearthy

What happens

José and Pilar (José e Pilar) is a Portuguese documentary directed by Miguel Gonçalves Mendes following the last years of the Nobel Prize winner José Saramago, chiefly through his relationship with his devoted wife, Pilar del Río. Highly praised by the critics and the audience, the film succeeds in portraying the tenderness, the genuine integrity and the deep humanity between the controversial writer and his wife. It gathers sequences from Madrid to Helsinki to Rio de Janeiro. It includes sequences life in Lanzarote, and during trips around the world (presenting José's books, signing autographs, making speeches) as well as their simple, transient and quotidian moments 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. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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