La lettre

A masterpiece from a relatively unknown master in his 90s, but a masterpiece that refuses to play the 'great film' game. The excessive reliance on dialogue, stilted performances, ludicrous stylisation and verbose intertitles; the refusal to completely modernise the 17th century material, leaving it in a temporal flatness; all point to gauche filmmaking, but de Oliveira has the last laugh, and as the rhythms and patterns of his editing and framing become apparent, as the deadpan comedy emerges, we notice the stunning labyrinth of repetition he is cunningly weaving, and the film becomes satirically forceful, metaphysically complex, but, most importantly, heartbreakingly human.