Raul Ruiz wrote and directed this gently surreal comedy-drama, in which nine short tales are set in a small Portuguese town. A film crew arrives to make a movie shortly after the end of World War II, but find themselves travelling back and forth in time (from the 17th century to the dawn of the 21st) as unusual events transpire around them. The stories' subjects include a group of blind children who have made it their mission to convert adults to Christianity, a young man whose gentle spirit is challenged by the greed that lurks around him, a woman whose purse is somehow always full of money, and a group of former nuns who have devised a pragmatic solution to the problem of paying rent on the convent -- they've opened a brothel. Melvil Poupaud stars as Paul, the linking character who unites the nine stories; the cast also includes Elsa Zylberstein, Lambert Wilson, Christian Vadim, Marie-France Pisier, and Diogo Doria. Combat D'Amour En Songe received its North American premiere at the 2000 Montreal World Film Festival.
by Mark Deming
synopsis
