Teresa Madruga Movies

A heartbroken Portuguese man mourning the loss of his lover to a tragic car accident finds solace in the arms of a woman driven to insanity by her need to bear children in O Fantasma director João Pedro Rodrigues' psychologically mangled melodrama. It was the very day of Pedro (João Carreira) and Rui's (Nuno Gil) one-year anniversary that Pedro was sent careening through his shattered window only to die moments later in the arms of his devastated lover. But as fate would have it, Pedro isn't the only one who has pledged undying love to the recently departed. After rejecting her most recent boyfriend for his refusal to impregnate her, increasingly erratic wannabe mother Odete (Ana Cristina De Oliveira) brazenly crashes Pedro's funeral only to lets loose with the shocking claims she was both deeply in love with the unfortunate car-crash victim and that she is also the mother-to-be of the deceased man's unborn child. Later taken in by Pedro's mother after holding vigil at his graveside for many days and nights, Odete begins to experience a startling transformation as her child reaches term and Rui begins to see his deceased lover in the eyes of a woman whose singular goal in life is to give birth. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A middle-aged white man recalls the summer some 35 years ago during which he lost his innocence in director Fernando Vendrell's 2002 coming-of-age drama Light Drops. Visiting an old abandoned settlement in Mozambique that he and his family lived in during the 1950s, Rui Pedro (Luis Sarmento) remembers another homecoming he had at this same spot when he was 14. Via flashback, a young Rui (Filipe Carvalho) rejoins the community with joy as he reconnects with his white and African friends. Trouble comes soon afterwards in the form of two white visitors -- a relative of Rui's from South Africa and an army officer. The relative begins sowing the seeds of discontent by having an affair with Rui's family's maid, Ana (Alexandra Antunes), a very close friend of Rui's who had just married another domestic in the Pedro household. Not long after, her new husband and the tribe learn of her infidelity and exact the severe punishment prescribed by tribal law. Meanwhile, the army officer institutes strict guidelines governing the farming practices of the region, making it virtually impossible for any of the indigenous peoples of the region to survive. As rebellion looms over the countryside, Rui realizes his own father is complicit in exploiting the natives and is forced to choose sides in the oncoming battle between the settlers and the natives. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

In this artful film by 85-year old director Manoel de Oliveira, the heroine, instead of being powerless in the face of a world ruled by men, finds herself to be far too powerful. Beginning when she was a child, Ema (Leonor Silveira as an adult) had the kind of looks and manner that could stop cars when she came up to a street -- or cause accidents. As time goes by, she explores her power over men and, as a mature woman, chooses to marry a man who has virtually no machismo so that she can continue having affairs and exploring this mysterious ability of hers. Eventually she seeks to transcend her unusual limitation and accomplishes her death with astonishing serenity. This haunting story is based on a novel by Agustina Bessa-Luis. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This plodding whodunit features Pedro Oliveira as Alvaro, a newspaper reporter who comes across a man and woman arguing on the beach, and after obligingly driving the woman around when she seeks him out, he takes her back to discover the man has been murdered. The woman, Ana (Ana Zanatti) takes off, but Alvaro -- after many twists and turns -- runs into her on a train. After Alvaro and Ana start a relationship of sorts, he tries to handle some personal difficulties. But as Ana comes in and out of his agenda, Alvaro had better pay closer attention to how he got to know her in the first place. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Originally Dans la Ville Blanche, the Swiss/Portuguese In the White City features Bruno Ganz as a cinematically inclined Swiss sailor. While on liberty in Lisbon, Ganz decides to soak in the sights, committing his visit to posterity with an 8-millimeter movie camera. His ship sets sail, but Ganz remains in Lisbon, trying to explain his "escape" (which includes an affair with chambermaid Teresa Madruga) in long rambling letters to his wife. In the White City was directed by Alain Tanner, best known for his stream-of-consciousness Jonah Who Will be 25 in the Year 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Joao Cesar Monteiro has posed his actors in front of painted backdrops to act out the two 15th-c. fables that form the basis for this theatrical-literary film. Because of its static style, as though moving from one literary illustration to the other, the film does achieve some sense of life many centuries ago (assuming, as we do, that life then was not at the same frenetic pace as in the modern world). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide