# Mysteries of Lisbon (2011)

> A priest's dark origins and pious works ripple through the lives of everyone entangled with him across the turbulent Europe of the late 1700s and early 1800s.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/36861

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 6
- Episode runtime: 55 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Raúl Ruiz
- Network: RTP1
- Cast: Adriano Luz, Maria João Bastos, Ricardo Pereira, Clotilde Hesme, Afonso Pimentel, João Arrais, Albano Jerónimo, João Baptista
- TMDB rating: 7.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1236371/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: labyrinthine
- Violence: mild
- Tone: melancholic, tragic, sweeping, intimate, ornate

## What critics say

Critics acclaimed the sprawling, baroque storytelling and lush period craft of this Ruiz adaptation of a nineteenth-century Portuguese novel.

## Synopsis

Mysteries of Lisbon (2011) is a Portuguese national-television period drama miniseries created by Raúl Ruiz for RTP1. Adapted from a novel and expanded from Ruiz's earlier film of the same name, the six-episode story follows Father Dinis (Adriano Luz), a priest whose dark origins and charitable works place him at the center of a tangle of love, hatred and crime. Around him move Ângela de Lima (Maria João Bastos), Alberto de Magalhães (Ricardo Pereira) and Elisa de Montfort (Clotilde Hesme), whose paths cross his across years of adventure and misfortune. Each episode is built from nested backstories, with characters recounting the histories that led them to the present, so the emotional engine lies in slowly uncovering hidden parentage and buried loyalties. Set in the convulsed Europe of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the production moves through Lisbon and wider Europe with a sweeping, melancholic register. Its tone is tragic yet ornate, a meditation on fate, class and guilt. Fans of Les Misérables, Angelique and Poldark will find resonance in its melodramatic scale and interlocking destinies.

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