The End of the World

Zé Alberto and Laura are lovers, and have a clandestine and permanently threatened relationship. Zé Alberto is married to Fernanda, Laura's sister, whose husband is in prison for murder. Fernanda is aware of Laura's relationship with her husband and constantly threatens them to tell Armando everything. Laura and Armando have a daughter - Sónia - whose greatest defect is greediness and the highest quality to cover up her mother's romance with her uncle. The fear of the two lovers increases and events precipitate when they receive the news that Armando is about to go on parole ...

About the Portuguese author José Saramago, based on a long interview with the writer at his home on the island of Lanzarote, in which he analyzes his work and shares his reflection on some aspects of his personal life.

“The artist, in his movement towards the ideal, upsets the stability of any one society. Society aspires to achieve stability; the artist aims for infinity. That is the artist’s responsibility and the spiritual sacrifice demanded of him.” Rui Chafes, O Perfume das Buganvílias, 2012 (19).

About the artistic path, the thought and the work of José de Guimarães.

In order to make some much-needed cash for himself, 65-year-old Portuguese prison inmate Eugenio impersonates a young woman and begins a romantic correspondence with a lonely Portuguese truck-driver living in Boston, convincing him that her tragic life has culminated in financial dire straits so he will send money. At first Eugenio's sister Idalina assists him in creating the character of Maria da Luz. Touched by her sweetness and apparent loving nature, the trucker willingly sends her money. When Idalina starts fearing they will be caught, she backs out of her arrangement with Eugenio who then convinces his young cellmate Vasco to help write the letters and even sends a picture of himself at age seven to "prove" that Maria has a young son. As prison life exacts an increasingly heavy toll upon Eugenio's health, his feminine alter-ego helps sustain him.

Twenty-five years after leaving school, a group of former students decide to organise a reunion. But, contrary to expectations, these "old boys" realise that time has accentuated their differences. The atmosphere is tense, the conversation taut and the old grudges resurface in no time.