Mulheres da Beira
About Mulheres da Beira
Anninhas, a peasant girl near Arouca and the Serra do Gamarrão, turns down the shepherd André because she wants money and another man. She takes up with the Fidalgo da Mó, who drops her once he is bored and has a new lover. Her family and the nuns at the convent both shut her out. She walks to the Frecha da Mizarela waterfall looking for God's pardon or for death.
Cast & crew
More about Mulheres da Beira
Rino Lupo adapted Abel Botelho's story "A Frecha da Mizarela," from the 1898 collection Mulheres da Beira, and directed it for Invicta Film. Shooting ran from September to November 1921. Artur Costa de Macedo photographed it. Georges Pallu and Mme Meunier edited. It opened in Lisbon on April 2, 1923, and in Porto on June 5, 1923. Raul Lopes Freire distributed it.
Themes
Look
Artur Costa de Macedo shot the Arouca village, the convent, and the waterfall. The print uses tints: white, sepia, magenta, red, orange, yellow, and green, each tied to a mood in the titles.
Music
Silent on release. The 2017 DVD uses a new score by António Tomás de Lima and Nicholas McNair.
Preservation
A print survives. The Cinemateca Portuguesa preserved it, and a restored version was issued on DVD in 2017 and shown that year at the Festival Internacional de Cinema de Arouca.
Notes
- Brunilde Júdice plays Anninhas. Mário Santos plays André. Rafael Marques plays the Fidalgo da Mó.
- António Pinheiro plays her father, Pedro. Maria Júdice da Costa plays the mother superior at Arouca. Celeste Ruth plays Clara d'Orsay.
- Alfredo Nunes de Mattos and Henrique Alegria were the producers. Alegria also did the art direction.
- Alternate titles used in Portugal were As Mulheres da Beira and Funesta Ambição.
- A 2017 DVD of the Cinemateca Portuguesa restoration adds a score by António Tomás de Lima and Nicholas McNair. The 1921 film was silent.
Scenes
- The Fidalgo da Mó drops Anninhas for a new lover.
- The nuns refuse her, and she goes on to the Mizarela falls.
Influenced by
- Abel Botelho's "A Frecha da Mizarela" (1898)
Also available
- Cinemateca Portuguesa
- Restored DVD (2017)
