Fantasmas da escrita: Amor de perdição e o cinema epistolar de manoel de oliveira

In the closing sequence of Manoel de Oliveira’s Amor de perdição (1978), Teresa’s last letter to Simão Botelho reveals the phantasmagoric nature of the cinematographic image: In the posthumous temporality of its reading, Teresa enters the scene as an apparition, projected by writing and permitting the reunion, at last, of the lovers’ bodies—separated throughout the film—in the same shot. Through a detailed reading of the depiction of letters in Oliveira’s adaptation of Camilo Castelo Branco’s novel, and of its connections to other works by the Portuguese filmmaker, this paper explores the interplay between writing, image, and authorship in what has been termed Oliveira’s “epistolary cinema” and its relevance for a redefinition of the role of writing within his ideas regarding film.