Synopsis
In which Scheherazade tells of how desolation invaded men : “It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that a Judge will cry instead of giving out her sentence. A runaway murderer will wander through the land for over forty days and will teletransport himself to escape the Guard while dreaming of prostitutes and partridges. A wounded cow will reminisce about a thousand-year-old olive tree while saying what she must say, which will sound none less than sad !
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Cast
- Crista AlfaiateGénio, Vaz da Vaca e Oliveira / Xerazade
- Chico ChapasSimão 'Sem Tripas'
- Luísa CruzJuíza
- Pedro CaldasSenhorio
- Gonçalo WaddingtonFilho que rouba / Careto / Vasco
- Margarida CarpinteiroMãe / Glória
- Carla MacielNora do Pito
- Gracinda NaveMulher que cisma
- Carloto CottaCareto
- Pedro InêsAdvogado
Recommendations
- 100
Village Voice
The stories have an almost dreamlike sweep and imaginative energy, and the film never exhausts that exuberance. More extraordinary still is its emotional depth. - 100
CineVue
Arabian Nights may frustrate and enervate, but with hindsight these blemishes fade into a gleaming collage. - 100
The Playlist
For all the film’s politics, Arabian Nights can also be whimsical, swooningly romantic, inspiring, fascinating, or deeply sad. - 88
RogerEbert.com
The melancholy that falls over this chapter is hard to shake but its tempered slightly by the love Gomes has for his characters, bad habits, ingrained sadness and all. - 80
Total Film
Volumes one and two are especially captivating, as Gomes himself appears onscreen to tell of how he charged a team of researchers with scouring Portugal in search of tales. - 75
The A.V. Club
Arabian Nights’ off-the-cuff, community-theater vibe ends up underlining its origins as a creative reaction to social and economic crisis. - 75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Gomes believes we should all take responsibility for one another and sees austerity as a government abrogation of social duty that ultimately turns citizen against citizen. - 70
The New York Times
It is worth sticking with it until the end, since the third part is the most powerful.
