The Letter (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") (as Mme. de Lafayette)

Stars:

Chiara Mastroianni, Pedro Abrunhosa, Antoine Chappey

1 win & 4 nominations.

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 | car accident | concert | letter | singer | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Did You Know?

Soundtracks

Captain
(Lisbonne 98)
Written and Performed by Pedro Abrunhosa

User Reviews

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.

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