O Quatrilho

The first Brazilian film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in more than 30 years, Fábio Barreto’s romantic historical melodrama is a complex study of love and ambition at the dawn of the 20th century. Set in Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul around 1910, when thousands of Italian immigrants were settling in the area, the film concerns two such couples—Teresa and Angelo, and Pierina and Massimo—whose respectively mismatched unions become painfully apparent when they decide to live under one roof. Their four lives intersect with lasting repercussions after Massimo (Bruno Campos, in his film debut) and Teresa (Patricia Pillar) develop undeniable feelings for each other. Drawn from José Clemente Pozenato’s novel of the same name, which refers to a card game in which partners must betray each other to win, O Quatrilho luxuriates in agrarian period trappings while casting a jaundiced eye on restrictive cultural mores. 2K restoration courtesy of L.C. Barreto Produções Cinematográficas.