Francisca

The book's retelling of a troubled passage in Camilo's life -- his friend José Augusto (Diogo Doria) embarked on a perverse game of marital cat and mouse with Francisca (Teresa Menezes), the woman the novelist loved -- led Oliveira to new levels of stylistic and formal imagination. It helped that his wife, a distant relative of the historical Francisca, gave him access to a cache of the woman's letters.