The Letter

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.