Raul Ruiz’s masterful adaptation of the eponymous nineteenth-century Portuguese novel (by Camilo Castelo Branco) evokes the complex intertwined narratives of Victor Hugo and Charles Dickens. The core story centers on Joao, the bastard child of an ill-fated romance between two members of the aristocracy who are forbidden to marry, and his quest to discover the truth of his parentage. But this is just the start of an engrossing tale that follows a multitude of characters whose fates conjoin, separate and then rejoin again over three decades in Portugal, Spain, France and Italy. (Source)
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Spanning three decades and plunging into a whirlwind of adventures, coincidences, revelations, vengeance, betrayals and love affairs, wrapped in a rhapsodic voyage that takes us to Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and as far as Brazil. Evoking the complex intertwined narratives of Charles Dickens, the film's central character is Joao, the illegitimate child of an ill-fated romance between two members of the aristocracy who are forbidden to marry, and follows Joao's quest to discover the truth of his parentage. (