 The last film for
actor Marcello Mastroianni who died soon after filming.
He is a sort of alter-ego to film maker Manoel de
Oliveira. The story begins with the shooting of a
French-Portuguese production where a Portuguese director
contracts a French actor to act in his film.Although he was born in France, the
actor is son of a Portuguese father who died many years
before. While shooting, he decides to visit his father's
village in the hope of encountering an old aunt. The
director and two other actors decide to accompany him on
this journey. In the course of the journey, the director
relives memories of his childhood in the region, by
telling short stories about the place. When, at last,
they reach the village, they are met coldly by the
actor's aunt who can not accept the fact he can not speak
Portuguese.
Distrustful, she refuses to
talk to him. However, after much insistence, she decides
to tell him all she can remember about his father,
meanwhile commenting on the changes that have taken place
on the site with the advent of modernity. Finally, there
only remains to the boy to visit the cemetery where his
forebears lie buried.
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