Where to Purchase?

Hi - you may already have found a copy, but if not type Mario Bava - The Girl Who Knew Too Much into eBay.co.uk - the eBay store is DVD-Bargains. View their other titles and in there is the Letter. French with subtitles in English, Spanish & Portuguese.

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I found it on amazon,fr and ebay.co.uk.

Here the details.


Original Title: A Carta
Alternate Title: Le Lettre
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Cannes Film Festival


DVD Language Options:
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Portuguese ( Subtitles )
Spanish ( Subtitles )


DVD Origin:
France ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
103 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.66:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu


Movie filmed and produced in:
Country: France ( Region: France, Benelux )
Country: Portugal ( Region: Spain, Portugal )
Country: Spain ( Region: Spain, Portugal )


Directed By:
Manoel de Oliveira


Written By:
Manoel de Oliveira
Madame de La Fayette
Jacques Parsi


Actors:
Chiara Mastroianni .. Mme de Clèves
Françoise Fabian .. Mme de Chartres
Pedro Abrunhosa ..... Pedro Abrunhosa
Antoine Chappey ..... M. de Clèves
Leonor Silveira ..... La religieuse
Maria João Pires ..... Maria João Pires
Anny Romand ..... Mme de Silva
Luís Miguel Cintra ..... M. Da Silva
Stanislas Merhar ..... François de Guise
Claude Lévèque ..... Le médecin de Mme de Chartres
Ricardo Trepa ..... Intrus
Alain Guillo ..... Le directeur de Jouillerie
Jean-Loup Wolff ..... Le médecin de l'hôpital
Alexandre Nanaia ..... Le Jardinier
Marcel Terroux


Synopsis:
Veteran Portuguese director Manoel Oliveira brings the events and characters of a famous 17th-century French novel, La princesse de Cleves by Madame de Lafayette, to the modern day in this film about passion and matrimonial virtues. Mademoiselle de Chartres (Chiara Mastroianni) has her first experience of heartbreak when a youth who believes in free love abandons her. One night, her mother's friend Mrs. Silva introduces her to Jacques de Cleves, a doctor of good reputation. The doctor fell in love with the young girl the day he saw her in a jewelry store in the Place Vendome, choosing a necklace in the company of her mother. Mademoiselle de Chartres agrees to marry the doctor to cure her broken heart but subsequently falls in love with a young and fashionable singer, Pedro Abrunhosa. Realizing the dangers of following one's passions, her mother warns her before she dies, reminding her of her reputation and her duties to her husband. But she is too much in love to care. Besides, she is a rebellious woman at heart. Using a story written almost three centuries ago, Oliveira makes light of the social order which is affecting humanity even today. Remarkably, he does this with a good dose of humor. Chiara Mastroianni combines beauty with dignity as the woman who has no choice but to follow her passions no matter where they lead her. In competition at the 52nd Cannes Film Festival, 1999.

The Cannes Film Festival wouldn't be the same without a film from veteran Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira. At the age of 90, he's back this year with "The Letter," a contemplative, deceptively simple updating of a 17th century French novel. Despite the considerable presence of rock singer Pedro Abrunhosa, who performs several numbers and plays the role of an ardent but unrequited lover, the sentiments in this stately film are entirely those of another era, and younger Euro audiences may find it all a bit quaint. But older arthouse viewers may succumb to the director's old-fashioned values, both thematically and cinematically. Modest Euro theatrical results and plenty of fest exposure are to be anticipated.

A well-bred, lovely, spiritual, sad young woman marries an attentive physician who loves her. She feels affection but no love. Soon after, without design, she falls in love with Pedro Abrunhosa, a poet and performance artist. He also loves her. She keeps her distance from him, confessing her love to a friend who is a nun and, later, to her husband. Hunger for her love and jealousy consume him; she attends him as he wastes away. With his death, she can marry and express her passion, but what she does and how she explains herself, particularly to her cloistered friend, is at the heart of the film. Glimpses of convent life and of Abrunhosa on stage give contrast and mute comment.