Francisca

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• 1981
• 2 hr 46 mins
• Documentary, Drama

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Francisca tells a tragic love story set in mid-19th-century Portuguese aristocracy, inspired by real events. Two friends - writer Camilo Castelo Branco and nobleman José Augusto - become involved with the young Englishwoman Francisca (Fanny Owen). Driven by jealousy and emotional turmoil, José Augusto abducts and marries her, but their union is quickly poisoned by his insecurities, obsessions, and the constraints of social convention.Francisca, delicate and idealistic, slowly withers within this suffocating relationship marked by suspicion and pride. Her declining health and early death plunge José Augusto into remorse and self-destruction. Told in Manoel de Oliveira's highly theatrical and austere style, the film explores the fatalism of thwarted passions, the oppressive weight of social norms, and the destructive power of idealized love.