Seventy-eight-year-old director Eugène Green (who was born in the USA and moved to Paris in 1969) is something of a renaissance man, lauded for his work in theatre, literature and poetry. In cinema, he is perhaps best known for films such as The Portuguese Nun [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] (2008) and Waiting for the Barbarians [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] (2017), both of which display an audacious and playful theatricality. His latest work, The Tree of Knowledge, receiving its world premiere as part of the Texas-based, genre-focused Fantastic Fest, continues this trend, as his treatise on modern-day Portugal is dressed in genre accoutrements and plenty of theatrics.

Gaspard (Rui Pedro Silva) is a teenager who lives in Lisbon and sees first hand the everyday effect of the tourists who seem to be taking over his city. Running away from home, he comes under the thrall of The Ogre (Diogo Dória), a man who has made a pact with The Devil, which imbues him with special powers. Gaspard becomes his accomplice, helping to attract tourists whom The Ogre then turns into animals and kills. But Gaspard is sickened by what he sees and – escaping with a donkey and a dog – he runs away and finds himself at a ghostly manor inhabited by the spirit of Queen Maria I (Ana Moreira), who ruled Portugal during the late 1700s. Furious with his former protégé, The Ogre is not far behind.

The film consistently wears its theatricality on its sleeve, making great use of shot/reverse shot and characters staring down the camera lens as they deliver lines with a slight air of stiltedness. Shifting from the metaphorical to the on the nose (“He stole food from you,” cries a tourist to a Portuguese café owner at one point. “You stole our city from us,” he intones in reply, looking directly into the camera), the film becomes a heady brew of social critique of Portuguese society, moral philosophy, and a treatise against the evils of tourism and capitalism. In lesser hands, the film would tip into the realms of the arch and amateurish. But there’s a boldness and playfulness here that ultimately make the film quietly compelling. There are some laugh-out-loud moments (including one pointed exchange in which it’s revealed that The Devil has shares in a Portuguese newspaper and also works as its film critic) as well as a few instances of more subtle contemplation amidst the brashness. And the quietly ramshackle nature of proceedings actually becomes gently endearing as the film goes on.

Its bow at Fantastic Fest will probably stoke some interest from genre festivals, although the film is ultimately a highly arthouse affair with genre trappings. Those seeking only blood and gore will balk, but those looking for contrast may bring it to genre events and to a wider audience. With a domestic bow due at Doclisboa in October, the general film-festival circuit will seem a good place for it, and it should garner plenty of arthouse fans. Anything beyond that may prove more difficult.

The Tree of Knowledge is a co-production by Portugal and France. It was staged through O Som e a Fúria and Le Plein de Super. Its world sales are handled by MoreThan Films.