Synopsis

Inspired by a chapter in the book A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments, by Roland Barthes, A Espera addresses the anguish and anxiety of the lover who awaits the arrival of his beloved. In a restaurant, the narrator records the various possibilities of that wait (the woman is late, arrives very late, and does not attend the meeting), while the narrator herself eagerly waits for someone.

André (Diogo Vilela) has a date with his beloved Silvia (Malu Mader). The setting is a bar. At the right time, he arrives and waits… The various possibilities surrounding André’s waiting are presented by a narrator (Marieta Severo). Endowed with magical powers, amidst the patrons of the bar, she makes Silvia linger, arrive, be late, arrive too late, or not attend the meeting. Therefore, in each of these stages, André will be led to uncontrollable sensations.

 

Cast Preparation

The short film A Espera was shot in only eight days at the Assyrius restaurant in the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro, always at night and early in the morning. The plot outline was written by Luiz Fernando Carvalho after reading Roland Barthes’s bookA Lover’s Discourse: Fragments– especially about the chapter regarding ‘A Espera’.  The director, at 22 years old, wrote the plot outline during late hours of the night.  He developed the script with Maurício Farias, with which he shared the direction of the short film.

The cast accepted to participate in the film without being cached due to the project budget. “I did this job because it fascinated me,” Marieta Severo said at the time. Luiz Fernando Carvalho, although a newcomer in directing and screenwriting already had a rising career in television, having been assistant director in miniseries such as Grande Sertão, Veredas, based on Guimarães Rosa´s work and direction by Walter Avancini, and O Tempo e o Vento, of the novel by Érico Verissimo and direction by Paulo José.

The script won the award for the promotion of Embrafilme Short Films. The 18-minute short film had huge repercussions. It received the award for Best Short Film, Best Cinematography and Best Actress at Gramado Festival; Concha d’Oro at the San Sebastián Festival and Grand Jury Prize at Ste-Therèse Festival in Canada.

A Espera has been screened in commercial theaters along with three other 80’s short film icons, founding the National Short Film Bank, which has circulated throughout the country with great public and critical success. The other short films were: Ma Che Bambina, by Cecílio Neto; O dia que Dorival Encarou a Guarda, by Zé Pedro Goulart and Jorge Furtado and Amor que fica, by Alain Fresnot.

Frames

Gallery

Making Of - Luiz Fernando Carvalho and Marieta Severo
Making Of - Luiz Fernando Carvalho and Marieta Severo
Making of - Luiz Fernando Carvalho and Diogo Vilela
Making of on the set, Theatro Municipal´s restaurant 'Assyrius'
Making of - Luiz Fernando Carvalho
Luiz Fernando Carvalho and Roberto Farias
Malu Mader on scene
Malu Mader on scene
Making of
Making of
Making of
Making of – Luiz Fernando Carvalho and Walter Carvalho
Posters, invitations, catalogs and telegrams related to St. Therèze and Gramado festivals
Posters, invitations, catalogs and telegrams related to St. Therèze and Gramado festivals
Click on the photos to see more images

Awards

Gramado Festival 1986

Best Movie
Best Actress – Marieta Severo
Best Cinematography – Walter Carvalho

San Sebastián Festival (Spain)

Concha de Oro

Ste-Therèze Festival (Canada)

Special Jury Award

Gramado Festival 1986

Best Movie
Best Actress – Marieta Severo
Best Cinematography – Walter Carvalho

San Sebastián Festival (Spain)

Concha de Oro

Ste-Therèze Festival (Canada)

Special Jury Award

Gramado Festival 1986

Best Movie
Best Actress – Marieta Severo
Best Cinematography – Walter Carvalho

San Sebastián Festival (Spain)

Concha de Oro

Ste-Therèze Festival (Canada)

Special Jury Award

Critical Fortune

17, Jul — 1986

A nova mentalidade

  • Mauricio Stycer
  • Jornal do Brasil

“The general comment was that the selected short films were as or more successful than the competition films (Gramado Festival)”

23, Jul — 1986

Size doesn´t matter

  • Carlos Alberto de Mattos
  • Isto É

“A bar is also de setting of A Espera, the longest and most ambitious of the four. Based in one of A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments, by Roland Barthes with Walter Carvalho’s splendid cinematography recalling  Le Ball, de Ettore Scola, the movie rambles about the anguish of lovers – a feeling so voracious that it plots even the narrator”.

27, Jun — 1986

The time of short films

  • Eduardo Tessler
  • Última cena

“It is often said that the short film is a project of those who has no money for a feature film. A Espera overturned this idea, being an expensive film with well-known artists, well-kept photography, perfect set design and a lot of originality and innovation”.

Press

Principais notícias

7, Aug — 1986

The time of short films

  • Edmar Pereira
  • O Estado de S.Paulo

“Our films are part of a new concept of short films. We don’t shoot just to learn or experiment”, explains Mauricio Farias and Luiz Fernando Carvalho.”

14, Apr — 1986

O Homem da Capa Preta, the best at Gramado Festival

  • Helena Salém

“In the short film sector, the judges took another approach: instead of individualizing the award, they preferred to share the Kikito for best film among three: A Espera, by Mauricio Farias and Luiz Fernando Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro,O Dia em que Dorival Encarou a Guarda, by José Pedro Goulart and Jorge Furtado from Rio Grande do Sul, and Ma Che Bambina, by A.S. Cecilio Neto from São Paulo”.

3, Nov — 1986

The Brand New ‘New Cinema’

  • Sônia Apolinaro
  • O Globo

“It’s only worth doing cinema if it’s about the things you believe in. You can no longer fool people”, says Luiz Fernando.

15, Apr — 1986

Gramado award-winning Marieta Severo thinks of doing other films

  • Helena Salém
  • O Globo

“I did this work (A Espera) because it fascinated me. (…) I was amazed how those boys, Mauricio and Luiz Fernando, started on such a difficult path. But everything was so well constructed within the film, with a language that at the same time conveys Barthes but goes beyond the text that the result was fantastic”, says Marieta Severo.

27, Sep — 1986

Brazilian short films, award in Spain

  • O Globo

“A Brazilian short film, A Espera, directed by Maurício Farias and Luiz Fernando Carvalho, won the Concha de Ouro for the category.”

2, Aug — 1986

Invention, the new space for short films

  • Helena Salém
  • O Globo

“It’s a circular language that allows you to cover in a few minutes a story of beginning, middle and end. As Barthes says, ‘love is a delusion, in essence, it is circular’. Barthes not only puts it – his own language is circular. And that is exactly what generated our love for cinema”, says Luiz Fernando Carvalho. (…) Both in their 25 years of age, Luiz Fernando and Mauricio make their film debut after a significant television experience.

16, Aug — 1986

Director of A Espera is Success

  • Terezinha dos Santos Anna Lucia Tenan
  • Jornal da Faculdade da Cidade

“Admirer of Fellini and Hitchcock, this inveterate cinephile is also dedicated to television, having participated as assistant director of several miniseries on TV Globo, such asO Tempo e o Vento and Grande Sertão, Veredas”.

8, Aug — 1986

Enjoy these short films at Oscarito

  • Caio Fernando Abreu
  • O Estado de S.Paulo

“In A Espera, with beautiful set design and cinematography, Marieta Severo comments on the mismatch of a couple (Malu Mader and Diogo Vilela), in an ironic, sophisticated and intelligent film”.

Créditos

A Espera featuring Diogo Vilela, Marieta Severo, Malu Mader, Felipe Martins, Gilles Gwizdek, Karen Acioly and Marise Farias Creation and Plot Outline Luiz Fernando Carvalho Screenplay Luiz Fernando Carvalho and Maurício Farias Based on A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments, by Roland Barthes. Production Direction Flávio Cândido Art Direction Mônica Rego Monteiro. Cinematography Walter Carvalho Editing Maurício Farias and Luiz Fernando Carvalho Sound Chico Neves Direction Luiz Fernando Carvalho and Maurício Farias