“Limite”, the experimental silent feature that some consider the best film ever made in the country, is celebrating its 80th anniversary. Shot in Mangaratiba, close to the city of Rio, and released in 1931, it is a poetic reflection on memory. The plot is simple: in a drifting boat, two women and a man recall their past. One woman escaped from the prison, the other was desperate, and the man had lost his lover. They have no further strength or desire to live and have reached the limit of their lives.
The photography is quite outstanding and the soundtrack by Sergei Prokofiev, Eric Satie, Claude Débussy (among a few others) a great match. “Limite” was conceived and directed by Mário Peixoto, then in his early twenties. He never worked on movies again.
It was almost forgotten for a few decades – its only copy being almost lost during the 1950s – but was rediscovered in the 70s and became a celebrated cult movie. Recently, Larry Rohter, former New York Times correspondent in Brazil, wrote about it in the daily: Brazil’s Best, Restored and Ready for a 21st-Century Audience. According to Rohter, “Orson Welles, in Brazil in the early 1940s to make a movie of his own, did view it in its entirety and pronounced the experience “fabulous.””
“Limite”, as the NYT points out, was recently digitally restaured by Instituto Moreira Salles, and exhibited in the Cannes festival. While this version is not released, enjoy it on Youtube: