Avis Metacritic

A film destined to divide Manoel de Oliveira's fans but also to win him new ones, A Talking Picture is his simplest, most linear story in memory.

As a nonagenarian, de Oliveira is the world's oldest working filmmaker, and still one of the best. This is a lovely, lively, timely treat for the eyes and mind.

In both its intellectual reach and the elegant simplicity of its form, A Talking Picture bears resemblance to Andrei Sokurov's "Russian Ark."

It's a great film that, sadly, may be ignored by all but the most dedicated, knowledgable filmgoers.

Initially this seems naive and archaic, but it conceals a Buñuelian stinger in its tail.

De Oliveira wraps A Talking Picture with a simultaneous introduction and farewell--a bold curtain-dropper that's either a bleak joke or an imprecisely controlled scream of rage.

A thoughtful, provocative effort that makes up for its narrative failings with its astute philosophical musings.

Moves along its tranquil way until about five minutes before the closing credits, when it turns into a terrorist thriller.

Still astonishingly vital at 96, the Portuguese maestro Manoel de Oliveira here takes a becalmed trip through stormy waters.

This intermittently interesting symbolic tour through European history once again places ideas over aesthetics and technique.