The best Portuguese films of all time
The top 3 according to 12 votes from people: Tabu · Abraham's Valley · Recollections of the Yellow House. (Updated Jun 18, 2023.)
The films most voted by the 122 Portuguese film professionals polled by filmSPOT (with Os Verdes Anos, Tabu and Recollections of the Yellow House on the podium) and the classics that come up most in other lists.
Automatically translated (original in Português). See the original
Top 20
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1
Tabu
Miguel Gomes, 2012. Lisbon today and a love affair in 1960s Africa, in black and white; FIPRESCI Prize in Berlin.
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2
Abraham's Valley
Manoel de Oliveira, 1993. Leonor Silveira as a Madame Bovary of the Douro, from Agustina Bessa-Luís.
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3
Recollections of the Yellow House
João César Monteiro, 1989. João de Deus in a Lisbon boarding house; Silver Lion in Venice.
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4
Douro, Faina Fluvial
Manoel de Oliveira, 1931. A silent documentary about work on the banks of the Douro; Oliveira's debut.
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5
Arabian Nights
Miguel Gomes, 2015. Three volumes telling austerity-era Portugal like Scheherazade.
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6
Blood
Pedro Costa, 1989. Two brothers and their missing father; Pedro Costa's black-and-white debut.
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7
Aniki-Bóbó
Manoel de Oliveira, 1942. Children of Porto's Ribeira; Oliveira's first fiction feature.
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8
The Green Years
Paulo Rocha, 1963. A young man from the provinces and a maid in Lisbon; the start of Portuguese Cinema Novo.
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9
Colossal Youth
Pedro Costa, 2006. Ventura, a Cape Verdean, between the Fontainhas slum and new social housing.
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10
God's Comedy
João César Monteiro, 1995. João de Deus, manager of an ice-cream parlour, and his collection of pubic hairs.
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11
Change of Life
Paulo Rocha, 1966. A fisherman returns from the colonial war to a coastal village.
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12
Vitalina Varela
Pedro Costa, 2019. A Cape Verdean woman arrives in Lisbon three days after her husband's funeral; Golden Leopard at Locarno.
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13
Francisca
Manoel de Oliveira, 1981. The triangle between Camilo Castelo Branco, José Augusto and Fanny Owen.
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14
No, or the Vain Glory of Command
Manoel de Oliveira, 1990. Soldiers in the colonial war revisit the defeats of Portuguese history.
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15
Our Beloved Month of August
Miguel Gomes, 2008. Summer festivals in inland Portugal and a film that makes itself as it goes.
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16
O Pátio das Cantigas
Francisco Ribeiro, 1942. Vasco Santana and António Silva in the classic Portuguese comedy.
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17
The Song of Lisbon
Cottinelli Telmo, 1933. The first entirely Portuguese sound film, with Vasco Santana.
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18
The Ornithologist
João Pedro Rodrigues, 2016. An ornithologist lost on a river and a reworking of Saint Anthony; Best Director at Locarno.
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19
Trás-os-Montes
António Reis and Margarida Cordeiro, 1976. Ethnography and poetry in the villages of north-eastern Portugal.
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20
Horse Money
Pedro Costa, 2014. Ventura and memories of the Carnation Revolution; Best Director at Locarno.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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Comments (3)
Os Verdes Anos em primeiro, que bela escolha. Paulo Rocha merecia ser mais conhecido.
Aniki-Bóbó do Manoel de Oliveira, de 1942, continua encantador.
Tabu do Miguel Gomes é lindíssimo, aquela segunda parte muda...