Beautiful, interesting, incredible cinema.
Gebo lives in a European port city with his wife, Doroteia, and daughter-in-law, Sofia. The family is haunted by the absence of João, Gebo’s son and Sofia’s husband. Rumors are circulating of dark dealings in neighboring ports. Is João responsible? When he arrives home all is brought to light.
Late periods don’t get any later than that of Manoel de Oliveira. The Portuguese maestro directed this exquisite confection at the sprightly age of 104—when he still had five more films to come! Painterly, and rigorously contained, it’s a masterful study in hypocrisy, complacency, and morality.