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Portuguese director João Botelho returns with this magnificent adaptation of a novel by Agustina Bessa Luis (also a great favorite of Manoel de Oliveira).
A young woman searches for the true story of a distant ancestor, a noblewoman who scandalized society when she first moved to the island of Madeira. Through interlocking stories that cross centuries, classes and lifestyles, the film links her story to those of several other of the island’s women, all of whose frustrated passions played out in well-appointed manor houses set along magnificent, ocean-swept landscapes. They’re also united as each is incarnated by the same amazing performer, Ana Moreira.
Using a painterly and richly melodramatic mise-en-scene, Botelho describes the history of an unfulfilled passion, an emotional energy transmitted on from generation to generation of women. A great and welcome comeback for a uniquely gifted filmmaker.
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