The Fascination (2003) Poster

User Reviews

Review this title
2 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
6/10
Charming and intriguing story; terrible acting!
mario_c28 January 2009
O FASCÍNIO is an intriguing story about a family and a manor house (where some terrible crimes were committed in the past by a member of that family) adapted from a novel with the same title by Tabajara Ruas.

When I watched this movie for the first time, back in 2003, this story "fascinated" me and today when I watched it again I understood why. It's really an absorbing story with mystery, some charm and profound characters. And it has suspense in a melancholic and subtle way. The soundtrack is nice, especially the main theme which is a beautiful and melodic guitar piece that certainly helps to increase this melancholy. I really liked it in 2003 and my score to this movie was 8/10. However, today, when I watched it again I noticed something I hadn't that time before, and it's a bad thing... This movie is terribly acted; and the acting is so bad that it almost ruins its charming, mysterious and "fascinating" plot! It disappointed me a bit I must confess and my score has lowered a bit because of that. Today I score it 6/10, but I really think this movie would deserve an 8/10 score with a better production and mostly a better acting!
2 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
5/10
Half the potential was lost.
jacquelinedepas4 April 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Not fascinating at all. Lame story, terrible direction. The main character Lino (Vítor Norte) is presented as a cold, pretentious clerk, who suddenly receives a country property as an heritage and immediately gets excited because his money problems are solved. Once there, he acts mystic, inserted in a impetuous voyage through the family past, the country's history and myths told by everyone who seems to face his way. Every layer of this regression is very confusing, and I didn't understand which details explained that spirit haunting. The reason I say the potential was lost : the excess that leads this film. Excess of actors, excess of past stories, excess of dialog, excess of sound tracks, excess of surreal characters with no further approach than a slight meaningless appearance (the medium lady, the travesty, the mysterious girl on the farm...) This character, played by the beautiful actress Ana Moreira, seems to hold a secret. But there's not much information in her, just a sudden and unexplainable feeling for Lino. And it's not interesting to see her dark beauty, crossing the night involved in a mysterious phantasmagoric figure ending up as the young little summerier sailboat friend, who could be just any other young woman. The prostitute is another character who was not solved: what does the resemblance mean? Lots of questions left in in this film. In spite of it, has, at some points, a cinematography that holds attention. But nothing is quite "fascinating" here.
0 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed