Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl DVD & Download

Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl is adapted from a story by Eça de Queiros.

Macário spends an entire train journey to the Algarve talking to a woman he does not know about the trials and tribulations of his love life: straight after starting his first job as a book keeper at his Uncle Francisco's shops in Lisbon he falls madly in love with a young blonde, who lives across the road. No sooner does he meet her than he straightaway wants to marry her. His uncle, totally opposed to the match, fires him and kicks him out of the house. Macário departs for Cape Verde where he makes his fortune. When he finally wins his uncle’s approval to marry his beloved, he discovers the “singularity” of his fiancée’s character.

Manoel de Oliveira was born in Porto, Portugal on December 11, 1908, to Francisco José de Oliveira and Cândida Ferreira Pinto. His family were wealthy industrialists.
Oliveira attended school in Galicia, Spain and his goal as a teenager was to become an actor. He enrolled in Italian film-maker Rino Lupo's acting school at age 20, but later changed his mind when he saw Walther Ruttmann's documentary Berlin: Symphony of a City. This prompted him to direct his first film, also a documentary, titled Douro, Faina Fluvial (1931). He also acted in the second Portuguese sound film, A Canção de Lisboa (1933).

His first feature film came much later, in 1942. Aniki-Bóbó, a portrait of Oporto's street children, was a commercial failure when it opened, and its merit only came to be recognised over time. This drawback forced Oliveira to abandon other film projects he was involved in, and to dedicate himself to running his family vineyard. He re-emerged onto the film scene in 1956 with The Artist and the City, a work that marked a turning point in Oliveira's conception of the cinema.

In 1963, O Acto de Primavera (The Rite of Spring), a documentary depicting an annual passion play, marked a turning point for his career. This was shortly followed by A caça (The Hunt), a grim feature film that contrasted with the happy tones of his previous documentary. Despite the widespread acclaim garnered by both films, he would not return to the director's seat until the 1970s. Since 1990 (when he turned 82), he has made at least one film each year.

Oliveira has said that he direct movies for the sheer pleasure of doing it, regardless of critical reaction. He maintains a quiet life away from the spotlights, despite multiple honours such as those of the Cannes, Venice and Montreal film festivals. He has been awarded two Career Golden Lions in 1985 and 2004 and a golden palm for his lifetime achievements in 2008.

Filmography

1931 DOURO, FAINA FLUVIAL

1942 ANIKI BÓBÓ

1972 O PASSADO E O PRESENTE

1975 BENILDE OU A VIRGEM MÃE

1979 AMOR DE PERDIÇÃO

1981 FRANCISCA

1982 VISITA OU MEMÓRIAS E CONFISSÕES

1983 NICE – À PROPOS DE JEAN VIGO

1983 LISBOA CULTURAL

1985 LE SOULIER DE SATIN

1986 MON CAS

1988 OS CANIBAIS

1990 ‘NON’, ou A VÃ GLÓRIA DE MANDAR

1991 A DIVINA COMÉDIA

1992 O DIA DO DESESPERO

1993 VALE ABRAÃO (Abraham Valley)

1994 A CAIXA

1995 O CONVENTO

1996 PARTY

1997 VIAGEM AO PRINCÍPIO DO MUNDO

1998 INQUIETUDE

1999 LA LETTRE

2000 PALAVRA E UTOPIA

2000 JE RENTRE A LA MAISON (I’m Going Home)

2001 PORTO DA MINHA INFÂNCIA

2002 O PRINCÍPIO DA INCERTEZA

2003 UM FILME FALADO

2004 O QUINTO IMPÉRIO – ONTEM COMO HOJE

2005 ESPELHO MÁGICO

2005 DO VISÍVEL AO INVISÍVEL

2006 BELLE TOUJOURS

2006 O IMPROVÁVEL NÃO É IMPOSSÍVEL

2007 CHACUN SON CINÉMA: Segment "Rencontre unique“

2007 CRISTÓVÃO COLOMBO – O ENIGMA

2008 O VITRAL E A SANTA MORTA

2008 ROMANCE DE VILA DO CONDE

2009 SINGULARIDADES DE UMA RAPARIGA LOURA

2010 O ESTRANHO CASO DE ANGELICA

Director Manoel de Oliveira

Screenplay Manoel de Oliveira

From the story by Eça de Queiroz

Director of photography Sabine Lancelin

Camera Operator Francisco de Oliveira

Sound Henri Maikoff

Editor Manoel de Oliveira, Catherine Krassovsky

Assistant Editor João Salavizo

Costumes Adelaide Trêpa

Set Christian Marti

José Pedro Penha

Make-up Ignazi Ruiz

Hair Pilartxo Diez

Producer François d'Artemare

Production company Filmes do Tejo II

Co-producers Maria João Mayer,Luis Miñarro

Co-production companies Les Films de l’Après-Midi, Eddie Saeta

Portugal/France/Spain 2009 / 64 mins / Digital / Colour

CAST

Macário Ricardo Trêpa

Luisa Vilaça Catarina Wallenstein

Uncle Francisco Diogo Dória

Dona Vilaça Júlia Buisel

Woman on the train Leonor Silveira

Friend Filipe Vargas

★★★★

"This is a bewitching movie...don't anyone tell or remind de Oliveira, please, that he is too old to be alive, let alone making miniaturist masterworks."

Nigel Andrews  The Financial Times

★★★★

The 101 year old's delightful latest is a perfectly executed comic miniature on the perils of old-fashioned courtship"

David Jenkins  Time Out

“This meditation on desire and its travails has a light touch that belies the astonishing age of its maker”

Anthony Quinn  The Independent

“ELEGANT...DISARMING AND WITTY

A bittersweet, beguiling exercise in  the mysteries of love and character.”

Angie Errigo    Metro

★★★★

“You’re drawn in by the film’s crisp tempo and visual charm...it’s a winner”

Edward Porter   The Sunday Times

“EXQUISITE”

Philip French   The Observer

★★★★

“Oliveira continues his meditations on the modern world contradicting romantic assumptions...with the aid of Sabine Lancelin’s elegant cinematrography, Oliveira continues the ‘spiritual journey’ that began with Douro his first film in 1931”

Jeff Sawtell   The Morning Star

★★★★

“Oliveira knows how to tell a story...the main is a quiet genius”

Derek Malcolm   The Evening Standard

★★★★

"Oliveira proves he's still a cinematic master with this mischievous miniature...The real pleasure lies in the wit, acuity and precision of de Oliveira's direction"

David Parkinson  Empire

★★★★

"Eccentricities weaves a dream-like atmosphere...an enigmatic gem"

Tom Dawson   Total Film

★★★★

Centenarian de Oliveira produces another delicate, light-hearted, charmingly digressive miniature in which a young accountant tells a stranger on a train about his having fallen for the titular beauty, who lives across from the apartment of an uncle for whom he works. The film itself is (unsurprisingly) not a little eccentric in its relaxed and wayward approach to plot and motivation, but its elegant images, its gently ironic wit and its deceptively innocent tone are extremely captivating.

Geoff Andrew   Time Out

‘De Oliveira celebrates his hundredth birthday with a blithe shaggy dog story that shows his storytelling at its simplest and most pleasurable...the end result is one of Oliveira’s latter day best, a perfectly formed miniature.’
Jonathan Romney, Screen International

"Eccentricities of a Blond Haired Girl,” a 64-minute gem from Manoel de Oliveira, now 100 years strong. A story of love and money and the misery created by their intersection, the film tracks a young accountant struggling to earn enough to wed the blonde of the film’s title. Inside Mr. Oliveira’s lapidary frame, the young man — and woman — seem as lovely and captive to their world as pinned butterflies."

Manohla Dargis   The New York Times

Pressbook

Photos for download:

Ricardo Trepa and Catarina Wallenstein Catarina Wallenstein Catarina Wallenstein

Manoel de Oliveira

Video:

Press conference from Berlin 2009

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