The Letter (1999)
Director: Manoel de Oliveira
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
This distinctly odd version of the classic novel The Princess of Clèves, from Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira (b. 1908), falls between a rather studied literalism and a woebegone updating. The chaste wife (Mastroianni) is here wooed by real-life rock singer Pedro Abrunhosa, who to non-Portuguese may well seem an utter prat. Some reckon the film is intentionally funny, but this writer's in the larger camp that considers it misconceived and out of touch. (See also La Fidélité.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Manoel de Oliveira
Producer: Paulo Branco
Cast: Chiara Mastroianni, Pedro Abrunhosa, Antoine Chappey, Leonor Silveira, Françoise Fabian, Maria João Pires, Anny Romand, Luis Miguel Cintra full cast
Duration: 107 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.



What do you think?
Post your review now