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Poster for Manuel on the Island of Wonders

Manuel on the Island of Wonders

1984 · 1 season

A dreamlike, puzzle-box children's tale that drifts between wonder and disorientation, rewarding patience with strange, enchanted images rather than clear answers.

Created by
Raúl Ruiz
Genres
Kids, Sci-fi & fantasy, Mystery
Overview
This three part French TV serial for children (alternate versions exist as a feature, Manoel’s Destinies, and a 4 part Portuguese TV serial, Adventure in Madeira) is the favourite of many devotees of Raúl Ruiz. This is because it ties the enchantment and mystery of Lewis Carroll, Carlo Collodi and the Brothers Grimm to the filmmaker’s experiments with narrative strategies and what he calls the pentaludic model of storytelling (where characters are thrown dice-like into combinations and situations governed by the play of Chance and Destiny).

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
Created by
Raúl Ruiz
Genres
Kids, Sci-fi & fantasy, Mystery
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
    Pacing
    slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
    Attention
    demanding, 4 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
    Themes
    • identity
    • fate
    • family
    • memory
    • survival
    Places
    • countryside
    • single country house
    • fantasy world
    Era
    timeless
    Audience
    family
    Form
    • nonlinear
    • serialised
    Content intensity
    • Gore none
    • Language none
    • Violence none
    • Sex none
    All scales, 0 to 10
    Scales, 0 to 10
    ScaleValue0 to 10
    Action1
    Horror2
    Humour3
    Realism2
    Romance1
    Tension3
    Darkness3
    Complexity8
    Emotional weight4

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    Where to watch in the UK

    No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

    Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

    Details

    Genres
    kids, sci-fi & fantasy, mystery, drama
    Created by
    Raúl Ruiz
    Music
    Jorge Arriagada
    Cinematography
    Acácio de Almeida
    Length
    1 seasons, 3 episodes
    Network
    RTP1, Antenne 2
    Country
    Portugal, France
    Languages
    Portuguese, French

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