La lettre (1999)

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 ... See full summary »

Director:

Manoel de Oliveira

Writers:

Manoel de Oliveira (scenario and dialogue), Madame de La Fayette (inspired by the book "La Princesse de Clèves"),

Stars:

Chiara Mastroianni, Pedro Abrunhosa, Antoine Chappey

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chiara Mastroianni	...	Mme de Clèves
Pedro Abrunhosa	...	Pedro Abrunhosa
Antoine Chappey	...	M. de Clèves
Leonor Silveira	...	La religieuse
Françoise Fabian	...	Mme de Chartres
Maria João Pires	...	Maria João Pires
Anny Romand	...	Mme de Silva
Luís Miguel Cintra	...	M. Da Silva
Stanislas Merhar	...	François de Guise
Claude Lévèque	...	Le médecin de Mme de Chartres
Ricardo Trêpa	...	Intrus
Alain Guillo	...	Le directeur de Jouillerie
Jean-Loup Wolff	...	Le médecin de l'hôpital
Alexandre Nanaia
Marcel Terroux	...	Le Jardinier

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

nun | singer | letter | concert | car accident | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Madragoa Films (Portuguese/English)

Country:

France Portugal Spain

Language:

French Portuguese

Release Date:

22 September 1999 (France)

Also Known As:

A Carta

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Madragoa Filmes, Gemini Films, Wanda Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"Captain"
(Lisbonne 98)
Written and Performed by Pedro Abrunhosa

User Reviews

ALTERNATIVE FOR SLEEPING PILL

If you are a maniac who watches movies constantly, you know that you have wasted some hours in your life by movies that have absolutely nothing to say, this debacle is such one....gone are 100 minutes of my life! The story is superthin. A rich girl Madame De Clèves (played by Chiara Mastroianni, and I never could imagine acting could be done in such a boring way) has been destinated by her mother to marry the boring (they definitely found each other!) François De Guise. But of course, our bourgeoisie-lady meets (huuuum) a popstar and falls in love.... Now excuse me and let me point out some critical things. a) the popstar, a certain Pedro Abrunhosa is a macho in Armanisuit who plays the most annoying Portugese rock you can imagine....his crapmusic is about 20 minutes from the movie! b) the popstar seems to be part of the high society of cultural life, so it happens that he plays for a few people who normally only watch pianoconcerts from Chopin. Since when is that cool??????????? c) Since when falls a bourgeoisie-woman for a popstar who is surrounded by groupies? I don't know if director Manoel De Oliviera wanted to be hip by using some popscenes but it only makes his movie ridiculous. And the worst is yet to come! Madame De Clèves cant decide and she asks the help of her friend who happens to be...a nun. The nun tells all philosophicalbullshit that can be told in four words "Do your own thing", but for this intelligent answer you have to see a picture from 100 minutes in where nothing happens. I absolutely don't wanna hear terms like "art cinema", this is just wasted money. God, even Woody Allen wouldn't like to see this garbage.