A well-bred, lovely, spiritual, sad young woman marries an attentive physician who loves her. She feels affection but no love. Soon after, without design, she falls in love with Pedro Abrunhosa, a poet and performance artist. He also loves her. She keeps her distance from him, confessing her love to a friend who is a nun and, later, to her husband. Hunger for her love and jealousy consume him; she attends him as he wastes away. With his death, she can marry and express her passion, but what she does and how she explains herself, particularly to her cloistered friend, is at the heart of the film. Glimpses of convent life and of Abrunhosa on stage give contrast and mute comment.
Unfortunately the movie The Letter is not yet available on HBO Max.
| Directing | Manoel de Oliveira | Director |
| Writing | Manoel de Oliveira | Screenplay |
| Writing | Madame de La Fayette | Writer |
| Writing | Jacques Parsi | Writer |
| Production | Paulo Branco | Producer |
| Camera | Emmanuel Machuel | Director of Photography |
| Editing | Valérie Loiseleux | Editor |
| Sound | Jean-Paul Mugel | Sound Designer |
| Art | Ana Vaz da Silva | Production Design |
| Art | Ann Chakraverty | Set Decoration |
| Costume & Make-Up | Judy Shrewsbury | Costume Design |
| Costume & Make-Up | Emmanuelle Fèvre | Makeup Artist |
| Sound | Jean-François Auger | Sound Mixer |