The initial project for this film, an adaptation of Alexandre Herculano’s O Bobo, became, over time, a reflection on literary work and its contemporary representation. The film reflects, as it develops, the passage of time (hassled by endless production difficulties, the moviemaking process was extremely long) and the transformation in Portuguese society in the years following the April 25th Revolution, in 1974. A fundamental film in Portuguese cinema of the last 30 years.