Shaken by a divorce in the 1920s, Portuguese poetess Florbela Espanca uses her writing to deal with her tumultuous relationship with men, eroticism and love.
Acting
Dalila Carmo devours the role — fragile, ferocious, impossible to look away from.
Cinematography
Every frame looks like a faded postcard from a life already burning.
Writing
Dialogue that actually sounds like poetry without being embarrassing. Rare!
Director
Vicente Alves do Ó
Dalila Carmo
Florbela Espanca
Albano Jerónimo
Mário Lage
Ivo Canelas
Apeles Espanca
Soraia Chaves
Antónia Lobo
Maria João Abreu
Mariana Inglesa
Maya Booth
Ana
Rute Miranda
Alberto's Wife
Rita Loureiro
Sophia de Arriaga
Carmen Santos
Henriqueta
Anabela Teixeira
Júlia Alves
António Fonseca
João Espanca
Ricardo Barbosa
Enfermeiro
Graciano Dias
Alberto (scenes deleted)
Marques D'Arede
Mr. Lage
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Dalila Carmo spent months studying Florbela's actual handwriting to mimic her penmanship on camera. The poems you see her write? That's her hand, not a double.
Florbela Espanca is basically Portugal's Sylvia Plath, but her erotic poetry was so scandalous that her work was suppressed for decades after her death. This film helped resurrect her reputation.
PT
