Padre Dinis is the keeper of the mysteries of Lisbon. It took me a while to understand the title till Pedro says there's no mystery Padre Dinis can't uncover. He is ubiquitous in this whole narrative web of intertwining destinies.
It's a handsomely made movie, mostly static and contemplative, with plenty of exposition and back and forth and twists and turns and reveals, but it reads like a 17-18th century book or a Gothic novel sometimes, especially in Part I, with the sadistic and cruel husband torturing the poor woman to avenge his hurt ego, only to be punished just as cruelly by fate and repent his odious deeds, and the hidden and then revealed child out of wedlock and the mother deciding to live out her days in a convent to atone for her sins. There are also several duels, more misery due to either unrequited or illicit love, adultery and such scandalous things recounted as very matter of fact. It is your average novel of the era, I mean it practically has everything in there. It is based on a novel of the era and it shows. It has a pronounced soapy character, just elevated by the production quality and the decent acting.
I rather liked the first part and it kept me captivated, being fully aware of the extremely cliche storyline. But I succumbed to boredom during the second part and frankly found it very difficult to empathize with any of the characters. Maybe Padre Dinis was the only one who still kept my interest, possibly because he always stays in the shadow of other characters much more flawed than him. I liked the variety of costumes and hairstyles covering several eras, they looked relatively accurate to me, although I couldn't say, I'm no expert.
It it also very long, so brace yourself. Unless you love it, in which case it won't be a problem. Or if you see the serialized version.
