Como Fernando Pessoa Salvou Portugal

There are traces of a deep and ironic love for saudade and the city of Lisbon in the work of Eugène Green. Yet, even after writing a book on the country’s great modernist poet Fernando Pessoa, a film dealing with the man and one of his heteronyms comes as a mild surprise from the artist who is usually drawn to baroque remains in the present. In funny and sublime movements the film captures a struggling artist between his business aspirations and poetical principles as well as being a witty portrait of Portugal in 1927, a country torn between the seductions of American soft drinks and catholicism. (Viennale)