The Letter poster

The Letter

La Lettre

1999·107'

Manoel de Oliveira

Drama

★ 6.0

A well-bred, lovely, spiritual, sad young woman marries an attentive physician who loves her. She feels affection but no love. Soon after, without design, she falls in love with Pedro Abrunhosa, a poet and performance artist. He also loves her. She keeps her distance from him, confessing her love to a friend who is a nun and, later, to her husband. Hunger for her love and jealousy consume him; she attends him as he wastes away. With his death, she can marry and express her passion, but what she does and how she explains herself, particularly to her cloistered friend, is at the heart of the film. Glimpses of convent life and of Abrunhosa on stage give contrast and mute comment.

Stills

5

Cast

Chiara Mastroianni Chiara Mastroianni Mme de Clèves
Pedro Abrunhosa Pedro Abrunhosa Pedro Abrunhosa
Antoine Chappey Antoine Chappey M. de Clèves
Leonor Silveira Leonor Silveira La religieuse
Maria João Pires Maria João Pires Maria João Pires
Luís Miguel Cintra Luís Miguel Cintra M. da Silva
Stanislas Merhar Stanislas Merhar François de Guise
Ricardo Trêpa Ricardo Trêpa Intrus
Anny Romand Anny Romand Mme de Silva
Françoise Fabian Françoise Fabian Mme de Chartres

Screenings in Brussels

No upcoming screenings.