''The Letter'' (french: La Lettre, pt, A Carta) is a 1999 French-Portuguese drama film directed by Manoel de Oliveira. It tells the story of a married woman who has feelings for another man, and who confesses her feelings to her friend, a

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

. The film is loosely based on the 1678 French novel '' The Princess of Cleves'' by

Madame de Lafayette Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette (baptized 18 March 1634 – 25 May 1693), better known as Madame de La Fayette, was a French writer; she authored ''La Princesse de Clèves'', France's first historical novel and one ...

. The film was entered into the

1999 Cannes Film Festival The 52nd Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 23 May 1999. Canadian filmmaker, actor and author David Cronenberg was the Jury President. The Palme d'Or went to the French– Belgian film ''Rosetta'' by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The festi ...

where it won the

Jury Prize A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England duri ...

Synopsis

This adaptation of the novel The Princess of Cleves is about the thwarted love of Catherine of Chartres who, after a disappointment in love, decides to marry a very famous doctor, Jacques de Cleves, without feeling any love for him. As a result, she falls in love with a fashionable singer, Pedro Abrunhosa. Before his death, Catherine's mother tries to separate her from the man she is in love with. After her mother's death, she finds herself torn between her desire to be with this singer and her desire to be faithful to her husband. A religious friend, to whom she confides, tries to help her to sort things out.

Cast

* Chiara Mastroianni as Mme de Clèves *

Pedro Abrunhosa Pedro Machado Abrunhosa (born 20 December 1960) is a Portuguese singer, songwriter, musician and composer. Trained in jazz music, Abrunhosa started his career in the 1980s playing in jazz bands and teaching in music and art schools in Porto. He ...

as Pedro Abrunhosa * Antoine Chappey as M. de Clèves * Leonor Silveira as La religieuse * Françoise Fabian as Mme de Chartres *

Maria João Pires Maria João Alexandre Barbosa Pires (; born 23 July 1944) is a Portuguese classical pianist, widely regarded as one of the leading interpreters of Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. Early life and education Pires was born in Lisbon, Portugal, a posthu ...

as Maria João Pires * Anny Romand as Mme de Silva * Luís Miguel Cintra as M. Da Silva *

Stanislas Merhar Stanislas Merhar (born 24 January 1971) is a French actor. He was born in Paris in a family of immigrants from Slovenia. He works in cinema, television and theatre. In 1998 Merhar won the César Award for Most Promising Actor for his role in the ...

as François de Guise * Claude Lévèque as Le médecin de Mme de Chartres * Ricardo Trêpa as Intrus * Alain Guillo as Le directeur de Jouillerie * Jean-Loup Wolff as Le médecin de l'hôpital * Alexandre Nanaia * Marcel Terroux as Le Jardinier

References

External links

* * 1999 films 1990s French-language films 1990s Portuguese-language films 1999 drama films Films based on works by Madame de La Fayette Films directed by Manoel de Oliveira French multilingual films Portuguese multilingual films 1990s French films {{1990s-France-film-stub