Isabel Ruth

One of the last films in the legendary Manoel de Oliveira’s erudite and richly rewarding filmography is a haunted love story very close to his heart. Written in the Portuguese director’s youth but directed in old age, the film combines romance and fear, photography and truth, and life and death.

José Álvaro Morais theatrically transforms Alexandre Herculano’s 1843 novel before our eyes in his Golden Leopard-winning first feature. Set in the abandoned Lisboa Filmes film studio, The Jester imaginatively ruminates on national identity, engaging with entire centuries of Portuguese history.