O Último Mergulho (The Last Dive). 1992. Portugal/France. Directed by João César Monteiro. Screenplay by Monteiro, with excerpts from Hyperion by Friedrich Hölderlin. With Fabienne Babe, Canto e Castro, Francesca Prandi, Rita Blanco, Dinis Gomes. 4K digital restoration by Cinemateca Portuguesa. In Portuguese; English subtitles. 92 min.
An older and a younger man meet by Lisbon’s Tagus River, united by an unspoken desire to end their lives with a “last dive” into its dark waters. Their chance encounter pushes them instead to fulfill their remaining desires and vices in the low-end streets of a decadent, romantic city, eventually finding respite, silence, and glimpses of humanity in the miraculous birth of a new love that overcomes the weight of solitude and despair. It is an afflicted yet sublime example of the dual nature of Monteiro’s gaze: he is drawn to carnal pleasures and glimpses of spiritual paradise, awash in natural light and poetry, shot under the influence of silent film, Bach’s Goldberg Variations, and Lisbon’s traditional feasts.