Filipino auteur Lav Diaz is in post-production on “An Entry Into the Sadness of a Portuguese Woman,” the third installment of his “Hermes Trilogy.” The Lisbon-set drama stars Monica Calle, Ana Vilela Da Costa, and John Lloyd Cruz.
The film follows Lieutenant Ines Horta, “one of the finest detectives in the city,” as she investigates a mystery with Sergeant Mariana Moura. The investigation is complicated by the absence of information from Filipino Lieutenant Hermes Papauran, leading Horta to leave Moura to pursue the case, potentially endangering her. The film was presented at the Venice Gap-Financing Market, September 4-6.
“Sadness” continues themes from Diaz’s previous features, “When the Waves Are Gone” (2020) and “Essential Truths of the Lake” (2023), which both premiered at the Locarno Film Festival and centered on the character of Lt. Papauran, described as “arguably the greatest Filipino investigator ever,” played by Cruz. While the new film focuses on Lt. Horta, the influence of Lt. Papauran remains significant. According to Variety’s Peter Debruge, Papauran is “a good cop in a corrupt country.”
Diaz explained that both investigators share a common trait: “They are friends and colleagues, and they share the same idealism in the conduct of their profession. They are for truth. They are obsessed with the truth. They classify truth the way punctuation mark stops a word or ends a sentence; it must not go beyond period. It stops there.” He describes them as “deeply conflicted beings, restless and battered souls,” whose “inner turmoils are channeled in their probing of hardcore cases.”
Both detectives operate as outsiders within their respective systems, acknowledging the dysfunction but pursuing their tasks independently, distrusting conventional investigative methods. Diaz notes that the “Hermes Trilogy” explores existential questions alongside the mechanics of a whodunit, stating that “The great investigator, the obsessive visionary, aims for the mystery of existence.” He connects this to filmmaking, suggesting it requires “a grasp of reality, that deep understanding of life.”
“An Entry Into the Sadness of a Portuguese Woman” is produced by Jean-Christophe Simon for Films Boutique and co-produced by Epic Media and Rosa Filmes, with support from ARTE, Bord Cadre and Sovereign Films.
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