| The Convent | 
| Director: Manoel De Oliveira
Actors: Catherine Deneuve, John Malkovich, Luis Miguel Cintra, Leonor Silveira, Duarte D'almeida
Studio: Lions Gate
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy New: $5.08
You Save: $4.90 (49%)
Buy New/Used from $4.04
Avg. Customer Rating:   (3 reviews)
Sales Rank: 42552
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD
Running Time: 952 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 21166
UPC: 012236211662
EAN: 0012236211662
ASIN: B000MMMTCI
Release Date: April 3, 2007
Theatrical Release Date: 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Description
The story centers on the unconventional American professor, Michael Padovic, and his stunningly beautiful wife, Helene, who journey to an eerie Portuguese convent to prove that Shakespeare was, in reality, a Jewish Spaniard. They journey to the spooky old convent of Arrabida where they are housed by the sophisticated, but rather creepy guardian of the monastery, Baltar, who immediately seems attracted to Helene. In order to spend more time with her, Baltar arranges for Michael to spend all his time in the convent's great library; he is assisted by a beautiful young librarian. It is the wicked Baltar who tries to tempt Michael (in the way that Mephistopheles tempted Faust) into becoming immortal through his research and writing.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Misunderstood gem from Manoel de Oliveira, almost like a J-horror film... March 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is another gem from the great Manoel de Oliveira, the great Portuguese director. Many have misunderstood this film, calling it boring, unintentionally hilarious, and pretentious. O, what fools. I've seen it twice, and a 2nd viewing helps it immensely. It has a great story. Malkovich is a professor attempting to prove that Shakespeare was a Spanish Jew, not an Englishman. The film goes off in other directions after this, incorporating Faust among other things. It has great, moody photography. Quite often, scenes are in almost complete darkness, but you can still see what's important in the frame. Kudos to de Oliveira and his cinematographer on that. It gives the film a strange, surreal look. The dialogue is intelligent, intellectual, and very thought provoking. The performances are superlative, with the whole cast (who have worked with de Oliveira on many occasions) giving strange, other worldly performances. John Malkovich blends in quite well in de Oliveira's universe. He doesn't seem too out of place as many American actors in European art films do. The music score is very effective. The beginning of the film has some overacting (by Balthazaar, the assistant caretaker) and sledgehammer music cues, but after the first 10 minutes, the film really settles down and is quite good. The ending is wonderful vague as well. This film almost seems like a J-horror film, with its long takes, moody music and photography, ambiguity, and strangeness (there is no gore, though). That could be a bit of a stretch, but I think it's a valid point. I also like the fact that Manoel's films just end. They never really reach a true conclusion, and don't even build to an ambiguous one. They just stop, leaving you with a lot to think about.
 A strange little trip September 16, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
First of all, I have no idea why this movie is called The Convent. It takes place in a monastery.
This is one of the most sincerely bizarre films I have ever seen. Moodily photographed at an (real) abandoned monastery on the Portuguese coast, this chamber drama of six characters (three couples) is a throwback to the Faust and Eden stories, both at once, and seems, despite the literary and Biblical antecedents, completely fresh and unexpected, peppered with offbeat humor and framed with a sometimes mournful, sometimes terrifying musical score by the Russian composer by Sofia Gubaidulina. (If you fall in love with the music, as I did, the pieces are called "Officitorum" and "The Seven Last Words of Christ" and both are available on CD in excellent recordings. "Officitorum is a LONG, wildly expressionist violin piece which ends in the more formal and haunting part showcased in the movie.) The international cast speaks English, French and Portuguese indifferently.
To people with a little patience, a sense of playfulness and an eye for the strange and beautiful, this film is a real Halloween treat. After having watched the movie, you don't remember it so much as a movie. You remember it more as a dream. Days later you'll ask yourself: Did I see what I thought I saw, or am I imagining it?
Frankly, I'm thrilled The Convent gotten this new inexpensive DVD release.
 Huh? August 21, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Is this some kind of inside joke? What is going on here? Is it about a free trip to Portugal for Malkovich and Deneuve. This strange film has more story in the printed on-screen epilog than in the 90 preceding minutes. Talky and long static shots. If you look up "PRETENTIOUS" in the dictionary, there should be an image of this film's poster for a definition. It would be REALLY interesting to know the circumstances of how this movie got made. Maybe it was blackmail. Or everyone was kidnapped and it was shot under some kind of death threat. I can't imagine Malkovich and Deneuve read the script and agreed because of the story and I can't imagine they got big bucks because it looks like it was shot on no budget. Maybe Satan made them do it. But he already has a bad name. The only Faustian thing about this movie is that it's hell to sit through. I give it one star because it was in focus and I like the moss on one of the tree branches in a scene near the end.
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