| ECCENTRICITIES OF A BLONDE HAIRED GIRL |
| Written by Sian Rafferty |
| Wednesday, 05 August 2009 10:28 |
 ‘ECCENTRICITIES OF A BLONDE HAIRED GIRL’ has been gathering rave reviews from the know-it-all, cravat-wearing, red wine-sipping leaders of the critic world. They like to use phrases like “strange and surreal"... and “as pure as rain water and just as lacking in pretension..." (Daniel Kasman, 'The Auteurs'). I find this puzzling, as to me; Eccentricities' is potentially one of those films which was just never meant to make sense to the average cinema-goer. It sort of feels like - to fully appreciate this film, one must attend Film 100 lectures. Or at the very least, read about it on Wikipedia. Sadly, not possessing the understanding, or indeed at the very least the vocabulary required to comprehend ‘Eccentricities Of A Blonde Haired Girl', the latest film by 100 year old Manoel de Oliveira comes off as a little too bland and cliché for my obviously uncivilised tastes. I apologise in advance, if this story sounds a little tired and weary from over-use. A young man, Marcario (Ricardo Trepa), clearly broken and lovelorn, confesses his story to a perfect stranger on a long train ride. He has recently sustained a very harsh blow and is this very moment, fleeing the unforgivable wrong that he has been dealt. You see, Marcario had his heart stolen by a young blonde girl named Luisa (Catarina Wallenstein), and had to fight to marry her, only to have his heart crushed. It’s the classic story of love and loss; one we all have had drummed into us since Primary. Boy meets girl, boy fights for girl, boy ultimately looses girl and ends up a whole lot worse than before; boy met girl. Yet the real meaning of the film is subtly hidden beneath this gossamer façade. Marcario’s entire struggle is a response to the ideas and expectations of the people living in 19th Century Lisbon. Originally he cannot marry Luisa because he is poor, then when he gets money; because his uncle will not support the marriage. The final shock is one so deeply connected with another time, that it is difficult to accept as a modern audience.  Here I think, lies the crux of the matter. The relationship between Marcario and Luisa is difficult to understand, as we never see the fire and the attraction driving the two together. We never really understand why Marcario is fighting so hard for this woman he has never had more than a one sentence conversation with. Similarly when he is forced to leave her, we don’t understand why he does not stay and fight for the woman he insists he is so incredibly in love with. All these ideas however, are simply modern projections of what love should be; onto the film... and as a result we never really grow to understand or even like Marcario and Luisa, as a couple. The most interesting thing about the film is the way it seems to float in time. Although adapted from a short story written in the 19th Century, the film is never concretely stated to be set in one time. Therefore the story seems to have a fluid motion about it, with the only real clue in regards to time being the behaviour and actions of Marcario. In this way it is slightly mystical and has a sense of simplicity about it, which is both subtle and artful. Luisa’s eccentricities can be restricted to lingering at windows, suggestively staring at her neighbours and having a slight fan-fetish. She doesn’t even have real blonde hair. I would call her honey-brown at the very most. Yet in a way these border-line normal eccentricities of Luisa sum up this movie in a fitting way: interesting enough, but almost totally unremarkable.  |
