La lettre (1999)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Manoel de Oliveira

Writers:

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

Release Date:

22 September 1999 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A well-bred, lovely, spiritual, sad young woman marries an attentive physician who loves her. She feels affection but no love...

Plot Keywords:

Nun | Concert Film | Human Relationship | Singer | Letter

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

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

Also Known As:

A Carta (Portugal)
A Princesa de Clèves (Portugal) (working title)
La carta (Spain)
La princesse de Clèves (France) (working title)
The Letter (Europe: English title)

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

Spain | France | Portugal

Language:

French | Portuguese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

France:U | Portugal:M/12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Madragoa Filmes

so boring

I came to that movie with a good feeling : the trailer is good, the actress is great, the picture is not bad, the film-maker has a good reputation, the film had a price in cannes, the novel is a classic of french litterature. I was in a good mood too. But nothing of that helped me : I forced myself to stay watching it. I even hoped something would happen, the director awaking or something, but nothing happened. The "contemporary" adaptation of a 17th century novel is always a good idea, because without the costumes, some details of the old times appear differently and helps us to see what really changed during theese centuries. I liked for this "rastignac ou les ambitieux" (a TV movie from Balzac) or "moments de jean-jacques Rousseau", a cd-rom. But "La lettre" didn't work with me. I must tell I hated the music used, some kind of portuguese large audience crooner songs (portugal has so brilliant musicians... why choosing this one ?) and this makes maybe a lot because the music has a certain importance here.