Lines of Wellington is a portuguese/british/french history movie that takes place during the battle of Buçaco, it's not bad at all but I was expecting a little more, I watched it with my father and he told me it was pretty interesting, I thought it was also gonna be entertaining but it's actually kind of boring. It has some enjoyable nudity as we (portuguese people) are accustomed to movies with the portuguese actress Soraia Chaves.

It has some technical problems like some phone masts that appear on screen what is really silly since the movie takes place at the 19th century, there's also another problem that most of the people don't notice, I noticed because my father is a nerd and told me that eucalyptus only appeared in Portugal in mid 1860, the movie was supposed to take place on 1810 and there were a lot of them, pretty interesting isn't it? Yeah, not really...

I don't know enough about this project (i.e. Sarmiento's aesthetic, Ruiz's original plan for it, etc.) to say this with much authority, but I couldn't help but feel as if Sarmiento was mitigating the weirder touch Ruiz might have lent this. The premise would've lended itself quite well to Ruiz's free-flowing, dreamy aesthetic, syncing up with the film's concern over the way life devolves into absurdity when it comes up against the inhumanity of war. As it stands now this is a little too drab and slow for my taste.

Definitely funny to make a war movie that has essentially no battle sequences in it tho.

A film haunted by the other films it could have been. Lots of possibilities defeated by stodgy academicism. No playfulness.

Raul Ruiz was in the process of preparing this film (and mini series adaptation) before he died, which his wife, Valeria Sarmiento, took over. I am not familiar with Ruiz's work but from a basic google search, I imagine he is quite experimental. This film is not at all, only suggesting that had Ruiz been alive, this would be a lot more subversive. Instead we have an uninspired,dull period piece with questionable interpretations of the historical content. The script was wooden and the music was cliched I struggled to follow it.

There was, however, the most delightful scene between Isabelle Huppert and Catherine Deneuve in their only scene (I am guessing as a tribute to Ruiz). I would have been happier watching that scene on repeat for the two and a half hours instead of the rest of the film.

Isabelle Huppert, Melvil Poupauf, Catherine Deneuve and Michel Piccoli having dinner in the same table was the best part of this, low key epic crossover

me for almost all of this movie: where's isabelle huppert when i need her

I picked this up from a pop up store who had a sale on blu rays without any prior knowledge to it other than that it had John Malkovich name on it.

What I got was a historic drama about the invasion of Napoleon's army of Portugal, being defended by a coalition of British and Portuguese forces.
However do not expect to see any battle scenes, the war serves more of a background as the several story lines focused on those who are affected by it and as a result you get a plethora of stories, some well developed but most underdeveloped, despite a running time of 150 minutes. Malkovich in itself has only a few limited scenes, but in it he steals the show.

Part of Lincoln Centre retro for Raul Ruiz, the film uses entropy of few narratives to depict the story of Portuguese resistance against Napleon Bonaparte. Although Ruiz`s wife finished the film, the film is continuum of what Ruiz asserted in his cinema, a delirious state and broken narrative.

A structurally messy network narrative that finds moments of comedy and tragedy in the most tangential of places. But most importantly: Victória Guerra, wtfiu?

Não é mau.

O cruzamento de narrativas é interessante.
Um bom elenco, com especial atenção para o Albano Jerónimo.

Stellar cast and beautiful cinematography marred by too many stories and a lack of focus on the historical narrative.

Uma longa e extensa parada de sobrenomes e figurantes num olhar superficial da 3a invasão francesa sobre Portugal em 1810. A queda de Almeida e a batalha do Bussaco, dois eventos incontornáveis, não passam de miragens na trajetória das forças napoleónicas até às Linhas de Torres. Massena e Wellington são meras caricaturas.
De louvar todo o trabalho de recriação histórica e uma direcção de fotografia cuidada. Com menos 30 minutos o ritmo narrativo teria ganho outro fôlego.

Isabelle Huppert, Melvil Poupauf, Catherine Deneuve and Michel Piccoli having dinner in the same table was the best part of this, low key epic crossover

me for almost all of this movie: where's isabelle huppert when i need her

PAID PASS $125

Not much here. It's not really a Ruiz film. It's more like a generic war film. Ruiz had a way of making his films lyrical and thoughtful. This is none of the above.

I picked this up from a pop up store who had a sale on blu rays without any prior knowledge to it other than that it had John Malkovich name on it.

What I got was a historic drama about the invasion of Napoleon's army of Portugal, being defended by a coalition of British and Portuguese forces.
However do not expect to see any battle scenes, the war serves more of a background as the several story lines focused on those who are affected by it and as a result you get a plethora of stories, some well developed but most underdeveloped, despite a running time of 150 minutes. Malkovich in itself has only a few limited scenes, but in it he steals the show.

Amidst the ravages of the Napoleonic wars, this story takes place in 1810 as Marshal Massena ( known as the dear son of victories by Napoleon) marches into Portugal and heads south aiming to take the country once and for all. This wonderful movie with a multi talented cast does not feature any fighting as such, but a series of individual stories that never quite pull the whole thing together. The English are repositioning their forces along with the Portugese fighters and French deserters, ready to take on Napoleon's troops on the Lisbon coastal stretch aided by Wellington's secretly built fortresses. Fault cannot be found regarding the 'feel of the times' and in fact reminded me of the type of atmosphere presented so brilliantly by Steven Spielberg in The Duellists. Two and a half hours long, Lines of Wellington may not be compelling viewing but it certainly held my interest and I thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of 'being there'. Recommended.

Raul Ruiz was in the process of preparing this film (and mini series adaptation) before he died, which his wife, Valeria Sarmiento, took over. I am not familiar with Ruiz's work but from a basic google search, I imagine he is quite experimental. This film is not at all, only suggesting that had Ruiz been alive, this would be a lot more subversive. Instead we have an uninspired,dull period piece with questionable interpretations of the historical content. The script was wooden and the music was cliched I struggled to follow it.

There was, however, the most delightful scene between Isabelle Huppert and Catherine Deneuve in their only scene (I am guessing as a tribute to Ruiz). I would have been happier watching that scene on repeat for the two and a half hours instead of the rest of the film.

I don't know enough about this project (i.e. Sarmiento's aesthetic, Ruiz's original plan for it, etc.) to say this with much authority, but I couldn't help but feel as if Sarmiento was mitigating the weirder touch Ruiz might have lent this. The premise would've lended itself quite well to Ruiz's free-flowing, dreamy aesthetic, syncing up with the film's concern over the way life devolves into absurdity when it comes up against the inhumanity of war. As it stands now this is a little too drab and slow for my taste.

Definitely funny to make a war movie that has essentially no battle sequences in it tho.

There are too many characters to follow, making me feel like this would be a good miniseries. However, beyond that quibble, I think everything else is done fairly well, and it didn't feel quite as long as it actually was.