La comédie de Dieu

Longer, more obvious and gratuitous than its predecessor, here the social criticism is not so present. João himself seems to be completely absorbed with all the lust, a total pervert to be honest, and the scenes with the butcher's young daughter (who came from nowhere) were dragged for way too long. I have no idea what's the symbolism behind the dance number and the crushed eggs... but damn, it was bizarre.

Today I have bought "God's Comedy" on an imported DVD. Actually a very cheap DVD without Menu; spoken in Portuguese from Portugal (very difficult to be understood by a Brazilian); and subtitles in English that can not be removed.

I had great expectations with this movie, based on the IMDb User Rating of 7.2; the reference on the front cover of the DVD ("Venice Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Winner"; and the name of the famous Portuguese director João César Monteiro, since I was curious to see a film of this director.

Unfortunately I found "A Comédia de Deus" overrated, dull and boring and I have stopped watching this film approximately at 70 minutes running time. As far as I saw, the plot is inexistent: João de Deus (Max Monteiro) is the manager of the ice-cream shop Paraíso dos Gelados (meaning Paradise of the frozen ones). He is very concerned with cleansing and demands that the girls wash their hands carefully to avoid a health problem. This pretentious film is so lame and boring that I was not able to see it until the end and I have skipped it. My vote is one.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Pretentious, tedious pseudo-art. Probably written as a play and then adapted to a film. Virtually unwatchable, complete waste of time. One "hangs in there" waiting for the film to improve, but it never does. Lots of classical music gives the illusion of quality and high-art, remove the music, and you have a film-school throw-away, the entire thing should have gone unreleased. Lots of pretty young women, but merely a tease/window dressing. SKIP IT! So many good films, so little time...

The Portuguese film A Comédia de Deus was shown in the U.S. with the title, God's Comedy (1995). The movie was written and directed by João César Monteiro, who also stars in the film.

This movie carries a respectable IMDb rating of 7.2. When I see a rating this high for a film this bad, I ask myself, "Did they see the same movie I saw?"

Here's a film about about an older man who seduces young girls and maintains a pubic hair collection. He gives one young woman a milk bath, then strains the milk to collect the hair. The movie has been described as "an oddball sex comedy." Very oddball, not much comedy. Very sick.

Every João César Monteiro movie I see drives toward one conclusion: although being, in Portugal, the soul director whose vision of life, lust and decay is comparable to that of Baudelaire, Monteiro lacks the force of will that would make him a Rimbaud. The character João de Deus, central figure of a trilogy of which A COMÉDIA DE DEUS is the first part is none other than João César Monteiro masked as a detached and unsure version of himself. To see and to reflect on the weakest side of idealism.