Perhaps the most amazing thing about Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira isn't the fact that at 93 he's more prolific than ever, but that he continues to develop as a filmmaker. This is one of Oliveira's most engaging, most accessible films to date, and interestingly, it's about an aging actor who realizes his career is at an end. After the curtain falls on a production of Ionesco's
Exit the King, the well known French actor Gilbert Valence (Michel Piccoli) comes off stage to some terrible news: His wife, daughter and son-in-law have all been killed in a car accident. Valence's 6-year-old grandson, Serge (Jean Koeltgen), is now in his care. Time passes, and...
Released:
2001
Rated:
NR
Length:
90 mins