The Dead Queen (2018) Poster

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7/10
More of this!! Enough with the cheap comedy style.
StiflerAtem21 October 2018
The legend of Pedro and Inês de Castro, known by all of the Portuguese is brought to the big screen in a lattice of three different realities that involve past, present and future.

Adapted from the novel "A trança de Inês", passed in three alternate realities, particularly in the middle ages where the original story happened, then it occurs on our present, in which Pedro (Diogo Amaral) and Inês (Joana de Verona) are prestigious architects and also in a future where people have abandoned the city and adopted a life in the forest in order to survive.

The narration of Pedro and your story during the entire movie sounds like a prose poem, because it has a reflection of events without having to explain its details. The audience does accompany in a conventional footage, almost theatrical, but stylized in a magnificent way by António Ferreira (Director of the movie), immortalized, by his art and photography. These details are important because all the three scenarios are clean, dust-free, as if all three were happening in fact as Pedro imagine, not with the separation of centuries, but in parallel.

All 3, Diogo Amaral, Joana de Verona and Vera Kolodzig do a wonderful job in this movie! I think we need to see more of this dedication on our Portuguese cinema.

The music of Luís Pedro Madeira contributes significantly to the quality of the movie, as well as the remaining technical details of photography, scenery and wardrobe. The cast also includes names like Miguel Borges, João Lagarto, Custódia Gallego, Cristóvão Campos (who also does a great job, being in my opinion the best side character of the movie) & Nuno Nolasco.

Overall "Pedro e Inês" is an exciting movie that raises the quality of the national Portuguese cinema, aimed at history fans or tragic novels lovers. It is extremely important that Portugal do more of this, enough with the cheap same old comedy typical Portuguese movie!

It's this kinda of movies, just like "Soldado Milhões" for example, which also premiered this year, that give me hope on having quality cinema in our theaters from now on!
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7/10
Pretty decent
miawatrs15 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I loved the intro. The main character was on a pool, lonely, the colours were dark, cold and he was walking really slowly in the water... Then the story begins.. He tells you his own story... It may seem a little confusing at first but you end up getting everything... It's a really sad film about the portuguese romance story of Pedro and Inês de Castro. However, it is not very clear sometimes... It's a decent 7
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7/10
Obrigada, António Ferreira!
MarianaPinto2422 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
As a portuguese I have to say this movie made me proud! I loved the performance of Custódia Galego and Diogo Amaral, but in general the acting is not too impressive. On the other hand the plot is very well thought. The way they expose this love story, based in true facts, is impressive, not predictable at all. And all the references and connections with Fernando Pessoa, one of the best Portuguese writers, just bring extra life to this movie. 3 different realities, the same love story, and a tragic end, like it was in fact, well mixed up into a beautiful production that deserves my aplausse!
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5/10
The Hours meets Romeo and Juliet
dr-kandimba-126 July 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Pedro and Inês are Portugal's Romeo and Juliet. According to the legend, the prince was in love with Inês, after being married to Constança, and went to live with his mistress after his wife died. The king did not approve and had Inês killed. In a fit of rage, Pedro ripped the hearts out of the killers and crowned the corpse Inês as his queen.

The movie re-enacts the legend but also shows two different stories, one set in the present and another set in what seems to be a post-apocalyptic future. In the present, Pedro is an architect in his father's atelier and he hires Inês because he's in love with her (which would count as sexual harassment, I guess). In the future, they all live in a hippie commune and Pedro is married to Constança but then Inês shows up at the commune and he falls in love with her. All of these stories end up with the women dead.

Though the historical re-enactment is the best I've seen in Portuguese cinema, the movie falls short of being recommendable due to mediocre acting (this is what you get when you hire soap opera actors), the dull narration from Pedro and a boring and predictable plot. Skippable and unnecessary.
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