Arquivo

The film is set in dazzling Paris, early in the year 2000. Gilbert Valence has had a long brilliant career as an actor in the theater. He has just been given the role of Beranger 1st in Exit the King, by Eugène Ionesco. Suddenly, tragedy crosses his path: his agent and old friend George tells him that his wife, his daughter and son-in-law have all of them been killed in a road accident. But life must go on, and Gilbert is, henceforth, to divide his time between his small grandson whom he worships and the stage. His new role is Prospero, the hero in Shakespeare?s The Tempest. George then comes up with a proposal that would be financially gratifying, namely, to act the role of main character for a TV film, with all of the components that are so much the rage today: sex, drugs, and violence. Gilbert has played the greatest roles an actor can aspire to, feels ill-used, and refuses. "It?s a matter of wisdom gained through experience", says director Manoel de Oliveira. Shown at the 25th Mostra.