La comédie de Dieu

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

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.

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...

Too long.

Poor sound quality.

Some funny bits here and there.

If you aren't Portuguese don't bother watching you won't get the subtle humour.

Subject of the movie is weird.

Acting is mediocre at best.

Definitely not a 7,2 in IMDB.

I don't dislike these kind of slow paced movies mainly based on dialogue but this one is weak.

I feel like some Portuguese viewers feel compelled to rate this movie so high in order to feel they belong to some cultural elite and to feel smarter than the average movie viewer.

For me this movie is a bit pretentious and not that deep or remotely entertaining. Basically it follows the whims of a bored and boring pedo.

Portugal has of one the weakest cinemas in Europe, it's a cultural desert where mediocrity is celebrated as intellectually superiority.