Arquivo

Adaptation of the police novel with the same name from 1870 by Eça de Queiróz and Ramalho Ortigão. It was originally published in the form of anonymous letters in the “Diario de Notícias” and the ensuing doubt about whether it was or wasn’t fiction caused a good deal of controversy at the time. The movie takes place in the summer of 1870, and the writers themselves are the protagonists: Eça and Ramalho. Ramalho is kidnapped. The gauntlet has been thrown down. Two people writing a police novel for the “Diario de Notícias”. Could it be that the story they create as fiction is based on a real case? This is the question that sustains the conflict between these two writers, and separates them in an almost deadly duel between the cities of Sintra and Malta. The writing continues, and with it, the threats, duels, sex and intrigues. Lisbon is a state of tumult. The crimes continue in a story in which love is stronger than tradition, intrigue escapes the evidence and everything happens at a frenetic pace, like in a game.