Review of Pedro Pinho’s film Laughter and the Knife, which follows a bisexual Portuguese engineer on an odyssey in Guinea-Bissau.

A contemplative arthouse film between immersion and cinematic journey

To say the least, Laughter and the Knife is a film that has to be earned. This contemplative arthouse film—one that takes its time and allows its scenes to unfold—runs for almost 3½ hours! You therefore need to be a patient and curious film lover to accept the invitation to this journey. But what a journey! Admittedly, at times one feels the length of this very long feature film. Yet something happens that is akin to the magic of cinema: one is plunged into total immersion, at times not far from a state of trance, living entirely alongside the main character, the deeply endearing and sensual Sérgio (Sérgio Coragem).

The story plunges us into the expedition of Sérgio, an engineer. Sent to Guinea-Bissau, he must study a project, assess its economic and humanitarian stakes, and give his opinion. Still highly idealistic, kind-hearted, and curious about others, the handsome young man acclimatises, gets to know the locals, explores, exchanges ideas, and tries to gain an overall view. While the journey is full of good moments, notably parties and sensual encounters that allow him to explore his sexuality as never before, with both women and men, Sérgio also comes up against things he thought he understood that ultimately prove more cynical and complex than he imagined. He is confronted head-on with the postcolonial dilemma and realises that, at his own level, he is at the heart of serious conflicts of interest.

Moral conflicts

As the film’s title suggests, laughter mingles with the knife; the pleasure of encounters and pleasure itself mingle with difficult choices, victims of the system, and the risk of making things worse. For Sérgio, who wants to do the right thing, facing reality will be hard to swallow. It is a genuine loss of illusions, accompanied by a feeling of injustice and powerlessness. The tension rises when he realises that the engineer who preceded him on this mission has mysteriously disappeared…

Sensuality and politics

It is a film to be savoured like a long novel, leading us to escape completely while confronting us with profound, and not always comfortable, human and political questions. Pedro Pinho establishes himself as a brilliant director, both in substance and form, and makes our heads spin, notably through the sensuality of his filmmaking. Actor Sérgio Coragem is portrayed with a wild sensuality, and the intimate scenes possess rare erotic accuracy and power.

Film released in 2025 and available on VOD