Mal Viver (2023)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 127 minuten
Alternative title: Bad Living
Country:
Portugal / France
Directed by: João Canijo
Stars: Anabela Moreira, Rita Blanco and Madalena Almeida
IMDb score:
6,7 (878)
Releasedate: 16 February 2023
This movie is not available on US streaming services.
Mal Viver plot
Manipulative and mean Sara runs a struggling family hotel on the remote northern coast of Portugal. Her two daughters, Raquel and Piedade, help out at the hotel, along with chef friend Angela - who is staying there because she is having a secret affair with Raquel. The mother and daughters are always together except when they are carrying out hotel duties, such as kitchen work, cleaning and reception. The women are experiencing an “old and unresolvable conflict”, with many conversations postponed and much yet to be said within the family.
Reviews & comments
mrklm
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- 11659 messages
- 10059 votes
Bad Movie! Five women are forced to work together in a run-down hotel they inherited. Junior Salomé [Madalena Almeida] has longed for the love of her mother Piedade [Anabela Moreira] since her father's death, but she is emotionally damaged by the difficult relationship with her mother Sara [Rita Blanco], the de facto boss of the hotel. A lot of navel-gazing, endless pointless, but meaningfully intended silences in this terribly slow family drama in which everything could have been said within 10 minutes. Canijo's camera direction is either pretentious or incompetent (is there really a difference?): characters walk in and out of the static shots, often only half visible on screen. The first swimming pool scene is one of the most long-winded / pointless scenes in recent film history. The fact that this was showered with nominations in its home country Portugal says something about the state of Portuguese cinema. Yet another danger of hopelessly overrated anti-cinema.
Translated from Dutch · View original
De filosoof
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- 2489 messages
- 1700 votes
The film is mainly about the obsessive compulsive and perhaps partly because of that somewhat depressive, selfish and cold mother Piedade; around her are more women including her mother (grandmother) Sara who brings her daughter (granddaughter) Salome to try to improve the relationship between Piedade and Salome. But that is not the case: all the women are rather heartless (as if it runs in the family) and alienated from each other and believe that the other hurts them while they themselves are also mean and selfish. The women want the love of the other but seem powerless to give it themselves first; they seem unable to express their love for the other. The quotes "I love you but it's hard" and "love is torture" summarize the film completely.
Every moment of the film is quite good and interesting but ultimately too little happens and the film offers too little content to remain captivating: the film is melancholic but also somewhat empty. Piedade's depression seems to rub off on the film itself, which in turn becomes lifeless and monotonous: Piedade's suicide with which the film ends not only does not come as a shock or surprise but offers not only Piedade but also the viewer a release from sitting for too long.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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