Portuguese director Miguel Gomes’ tales-within-tales curio is baffling – but it’s also an enchanting love letter to cinema’s bygone magic.
From present-day Lisbon, where Aurora (Laura Soveral) is slipping into senility, we go back to her colonial African past, where as a young wife she had an illicit affair.
It’s not until this second part, narrated without dialogue and in luminous 16mm (like a silent-era classic) that we become fully swept up in the lovers’ passions.
But this blend of tongue-in-cheek exoticism and desire so strong it makes crocodiles melancholic amply rewards your patience.
