The Day of Despair tells in an elegant and somewhat theatrical way the story of the last years of the famous Portuguese writer Camilo Castelo Branco (1825-1890). De Oliveira was inspired by Castelo Branco’s correspondence, and especially that with his partner Ana Plácido. These texts form a kind of guide to the dramatic development of the virile, controversial and romantic writer. His physical frailty and his fatalistic, unstable spirit conflict with his romantic ideals. Castelo Branco was tormented at the end of his life by deteriorating sight and a true yearning for death which eventually led to his suicide.The style of the film alternates between a ‘realistically’ acted story and moments in which the actors address themselves directly to the audience. It is set by De Oliveira in a tranquil and balanced way with beautiful photography.De Oliveira’s affinity with the writer earlier resulted in the four-and-a-half-hour epic Amor de perdiç+M+o made for Portuguese television and based on the novel by Castelo Branco. In De Oliveira’s next film, Francisca (1981), the director made Castelo Branco his alter ego and protagonist of the story.
