Am I missing something? Can anyone really watch the (late) films of de Oliverira?

Started watching de Oliveira's "I'm Going Home" last night - apparently a film about an aging French actor - and I have to say the first 10 minutes were the worst 10 minutes of film I have ever seen in my life, with possible exception of a few experimental films of water dripping and the like that at one time were considered artistic. The opening of this film shows an actor on a stage, an aged king, bumbling through is lines, his back more or less to the audience, audience at first laughing (is this meant to be funny?), then silent, a few men step off into an alcove and watch this through a window, the play goes and and on for the whole time - if there's a point to be made, couldn't it be done in one minute? Honestly, I could not bear it any longer. I remember watching another de Oliveira film, about a woman and her daughter on a ship from the UK to, I think, India, that was equally tedious, poorly paced, utterly ridiculous. Look, I know the guy is considered a giant of Portuguese cinema and perhaps it's amazing that he's still making films @ 90 or 100 or whatever he is, but who backs these films? Who invests their time and money in this stuff? Can anyone watch them? Am I missing something here?