What if you woke up straight? This Portuguese comedy asks the unthinkable.
João is a writer who one day wakes up suffering from a bout of selective amnesia: he can't remember that he's gay. So he decides to reject his partner of five years and he plunges into a new, unexpectedly hetero life. But, as the saying goes, it never rains but it pours: João also has a creative block, and is incapable of finishing his latest novel. Isabel, his rival in the literary world, is suffering from a similar case of writer's block. After a night spent together, Isabel steals João's novel and tries to publish it as her own.
Acting
Diogo Morgado commits fully to the absurd premise.
Direction
Edgar Pêra's maximalist visual chaos.
Director
Edgar Pêra
Diogo Morgado
João Salgado
Jorge Corrula
Carlos Flores
Philippe Leroux
Pierre Cabace
Rui Melo
Rui, João Salgado's publisher
Melânia Gomes
Carla
Marina Albuquerque
Catarina Salgado
Nuno Melo
Ricardo
Diana Monteiro
Isabel Amaro, a writer
José Wallenstein
António, Isabel Amaro's publisher
Nicolau Breyner
the doctor
Rui Unas
Alcides, the bartender
Isabel Medina
João Salgado's mother
Marco Paiva
Julio
Miguel Borges
Vítor
Miguel Partidário
Joel
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Edgar Pêra is Portugal's most prolific experimental filmmaker; this is his rare mainstream-ish comedy.
The title's Portuguese wordplay—'Insónia' means insomnia, suggesting identity itself as sleepless unrest.
PT
