Posthumous Memories

Brás Cubas is dead, and he begins the account of his life with his death. He was the son of a rich family; he achieved nothing, made nobody happy, and spent his life postponing it. He had a long secret affair with a woman, tried a political career, imagined an invention. Now he tells all of it and mocks himself and his reader alike. André Klotzel's film adapts Machado de Assis's novel The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas. Published in 1881, the novel was unusual for its time with its dead narrator, its constant address to the reader, and its irregular short chapters. The film keeps that manner: the character looks at the camera and talks, and the scenes are staged theatrically. Reginaldo Faria plays the older Brás Cubas and Petrônio Gontijo the younger. Sonia Braga is also in the cast. Who it's for: Viewers who like Brazilian literary adaptations, narratives that break the fourth wall, and black humour. Who it's not for: The structure is fragmentary and the plot is thin. The narrator's manner may tire a viewer who does not know the novel.