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Poster for The Cannibals
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Released
1988 · FILM

The Cannibals

A drama following stories of characters from the Portuguese High Society.

Runtime
95 min
Language
PT
DramaFantasyMusical

Synopsis

This odd film is a major representative of an even odder film genre: direct-to-celluloid opera. It was commissioned by the Portuguese master of style, director Manoel de Oliveira from composer João Paes. Musically, it ranges from 19th-century romanticism to popular, modernist and even "post-modernist" styles. In the initially tame story, a host-narrator tells the story of a wedding between the two lovebirds: Viscount d'Aveleda and the beautiful Marguerite. However, what happens in the bridal chamber is incredibly bizarre. The events after that are even stranger, and the wedding guests and family indulge in cannibalism, among other perversions.

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 17

These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Manoel De OliveiraShot by Mario BarrosoScored by Joao PaesDesigned by Luis Monteiro

Also known as

  • Die Kannibalende
  • The Cannibalsen
  • Los caníbaleses
  • Les Cannibalesfr
  • I cannibaliit

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