Xavier returns to Lisbon after doing his compulsory
military service and tries to give his life some meaning: he visits his old
orphanage, meets some his old friends, attends a trial at the courthouse. Above
all, he sees his godfather Alves, who had taken him in when he was a rebellious
and stubborn adolescent, and who now tells him where he can find his mother.
Xavier does everything possible to better his life and that of the others, but
there seem to be forces moving against him that he can't stop. Xavier flees into
voluntary exile and becomes a passive spectator of his own existence. Until a
change brings him back to Lisbon and gives him back the hope of finally finding
his own life.
"When we filmed Xavier in 1991 I had no idea that it
would be 12 years before the film was finished and ready to be screened. During
those 12 years we fought constantly, João Pedro Bénard and I, to bring it to
completion. Now, in 2003, I'm pretty happy with Xavier, despite the
shadow it cast over all those years. Of course it isn't the film I imagined it
would be, and nor is it the film I had in mind back in 1991; but it's my film,
and I'm very proud of it. And for this I'm indebted to those other people who
also believed that the film, one day, would see the light" (M. Mozos).
Biography
film director
Manuel Mozos
Manuel Mozos (Lisbon, 1959) attended film school in Lisbon, where he specialized in editing. After studying in Paris, he returned to Portugal where he has made videoclips and documentaries, and has worked as assistant of theater director Jorge Silva Melo. His first film, the middle-lenght Um Passo, Outro passo e Depois…, has won in Belfort. In 1999 Quando troveja has partecipated in the International Competion at the Torino Film Festival. Xavier, realised in 1991, has been finished only in 2003.
FILMOGRAFIA
Um Passo, Outro passo e Depois… (mm, TV, 1989), Xavier (1991-2003), Lisboa No Cinema - um ponto de vista (mm, doc., 1994), Cinema Português? Diálogos com João Bernárd Da Costa (mm, doc., 1996), Solitarium (cm, 1996), Voz Marinheira (cm, 1996), Sons da Luso fonia (cm, 1997), José Cardoso Pires (mm, doc., 1998), Os Tristes Anos: História do Cinema Português 1945-1960 (mm, doc., 1998), Quando Troveja (1999), Censura: Alguns Cortes (1999), Crescei e Multiplicai-vos (cm, 2000).
Cast
& Credits
Soggetto, sceneggiatura/Story, screenplay: Jorge Silva Melo, Manuela Viegas, Manuel Mozos
Fotografia/Director of photography: José António Loureiro
Scenografia/Set design: Jeanne Waltz, Manuel Lobão
Costumi/Costumes design: Manuela Viegas, Matilde Matos
Montaggio/Film editor: Nuno Carvalho, Pedro Marques, Manuel Mozos
Musica/MusicMariana Ricardo
Suono/Sound: Vasco Pimentel
Interpreti e personaggi/Cast and characters: Pedro Hestnes (Xavier), Cristina Carvalhal (Rosa), Sandra Faleiro (Luísa), José Meireles (Hipólito), Canto e Castro (Alves), Isabel de Castro (Irmã Luz), Isabel Ruth (Laura).
Produttore/Producer: Paulo Rocha
Produzione/Production: SUMA Filmes