Much has been written about the fact that Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira is the oldest living filmmaker on the globe today. At age ninety-six, he continues to craft original, idiosyncratic works nearly every year, and has done so ever since the early 1980’s. His 2003 effort, A Talking Picture, opens with text on-screen describing its austere scenario: "In July 2001, a little girl crosses thousands of years of civilization, along with her mother, a distinguished history professor, while on their way to meet her father". No doubt one would note the significance of the date Oliveira sets his film -- only a couple months before the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001 in New York City -- and, indeed, this tends to remain in the back of one’s mind throughout the picture. This date, however, doesn’t seem to have any merit until the final six minutes in which there’s a drastic tonal shift as a result of a shocking climax that leaves the viewer with new meanings for all that came before.

At the beginning of the film, Oliveira introduces us to a mother, Rosa Maria (Leonor Silveira), and her eight-year-old daughter, Maria Joana (Filipa de Almedia), aboard a cruise ship departing from their native Portugal. Rosa Maria speaks to her daughter of the mythologized King Sebastian and how many people believe that he will return "on a misty morning like this" to save Portugal. This is the first of many history lessons she will give Maria Joana throughout the course of the film, as they move from west to east through Marseilles, Naples (where Maria Joana questions "what is a legend?" contrasting with her previous query, "what is a myth?"), Pompeii, Ceuta in Spanish Morocco, Athens, the pyramids of Egypt along with the Suez Canal (accompanied by Portuguese actor Luis Miguel Cintra, playing himself), and, finally, Istanbul. The intended destination of Bombay, India is never reached and these lessons prove futile, never to be drawn upon again.

Up until the halfway mark, the film acts as a picturesque travelogue in which Rosa Maria attempts to separate myth from fact for her impressionable daughter. Both myths and facts have their place, Rosa Maria explains, but both should be clearly defined so as to not cause confusion, because myth can never be taken as fact. Oliveira calmly and deftly moves from location to location, just as Rosa Maria efficiently moves from story to story, never dabbling in one area for too long. Oliveira favors the long take, usually for several minutes at a time. He resists lingering his camera on such rich beauties as the Pyramids of Giza, instead opting to capture Rosa Maria and Maria Joana in the foreground as the mother speaks of the construction of the Sphinx. The ship’s prow is intercut intermittently throughout the picture at the very same angle, always pushing forward in the sea lunging towards progress and different cultures of civilization.

In the dining section of the ship, we are formally introduced to the Polish-American captain, John Walesa (John Malkovich), and three famous international beauties: a successful French businesswoman (Catherine Deneuve), a former Italian model (Stefania Sandrelli), and a Greek actress (Irene Papas), who were all given their own entrance as they boarded at different ports of call. As Rosa Maria and Maria Joana casually look on and dine at their own table, Oliveira presents this roundtable of discussion between the four participants in a relaxed colloquy that broaches a variety of topics involving the legacies of Western civilization. Each speaks in his or her own language: English, Greek, French and Italian, but communication is not a problem. It is only when the captain invites Rosa Maria and Maria Joana to the table that the discourse breaks down, for only the captain speaks rough Portuguese and the trio of women absolutely none. In some readings of the film, this scene is seen as signifying that Portugal is not yet part of the global community and remains uncorrupted. Indeed, all three international actresses make very few efforts to even acknowledge Rosa Maria and when they do, such as the Italian model’s apparent jealousy for Rosa Maria’s daughter, it’s not for very long.

Near the close of the film after Helena, the Greek actress, sings a traditional song about peace from her home country, the captain informs the table that terrorists have planted a bomb on board and they must evacuate. Maria Joana runs back for her doll but when her and her mother return to board the rescue ship, it’s already sailed. They perish off-screen during the closing credits as Oliveira cuts to a medium close-up of the captain’s screams to turn the boat around, the explosion sounding off in the background. The history of his ship and the lives of two of its passengers are forever lost in this wreckage of destruction. The film’s date takes on a plethora of new meanings during these closing moments, including the previously mentioned link with September 11, but Oliveira masterfully leaves such meanings ambiguous, instead asking us to draw upon our own conclusions as the closing credits roll. I wondered if Oliveira was commenting upon the American psyche with the suggestion that the captain seems to readily leave his ship in the final moments, despite the scene at the dinner table in which he expresses his life’s devotion to the sea. Also in light of the final moments, one wonders the significance of the taxicab scene in Vesuvius, Italy where Rosa Maria speaks of their famous volcano as being "punishment for sinful lives". Among such tropes, Oliveira makes one idea abundantly clear: civilization is on a decline and is fast approaching the denouement that is brought upon Rosa Maria and Maria Joana. If one were to sum up A Talking Picture in a few words, one could do no better than to express that it’s the history of destruction along with the destruction of history.

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© Copyright Aaron W. Graham 2005. No part of this article may be reprinted without permission of the author.
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