A Bee in the Rain

Uma Abelha na Chuva

Portugal

1972

75 Min

Black and White

Portuguese

Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
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SCR Fernando Lopes, Carlos de Oliveira

CAST Laura Soveral, João Guedes, Zita Duarte, Ruy Furtado

Synopsis

This Portuguese drama examines the daily life and intrigues of two sections of society in the rural village where they live. One is a wealthy landowner, the other a widowed aristocrat who lives in a world of her own. “Starting off from a fine novel by Carlos de Oliveira, Fernando Lopes doesn’t so mush reconstitute a story, but rather defines an atmosphere parallel to that which exists in the literary work. The erosion of time, the crumbling of an epoch, the decline of a stately home, the disintegration of emotions: the film version of A Bee in the Rain talks about all these things, using a language that is sparse and unpolished, fascinating and at the same time repulsive in its disturbing silence” – Filmaffinity

Director

Fernando Lopes

He surges in his generation, of budding directors rising up through the so-called “cine-club” movement, and acquires his first technical knowledge by working in television.

He graduated from the London Film School, which he attended in 1959-60, with a scholarship from the National Cinema Fund. After his return to Portugal, he pens Belarmino (1964), a film about the life of the pugilist Belarmino Fragoso, a film that is considered one of the key works from the Portuguese New Cinema movement, along with Dom Roberto by Ernesto de Sousa, and Os Verdes Anos (The Green Years) by Paulo Rocha.

In 1965, he spends a training period in Hollywood, where he remains for three months. Upon returning, he films A Bumblebee in the Rain (1971), adapted from the novel by Carlos de Oliveira and starring Laura Soveral; and along with O Delfim (2002), the two films are considered his greatest works. In 2006, he directs two films: 98 Octanes read more