O Crime do Padre Amaro
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| The Crime of Father Amaro | |
| Author | José Maria Eça de Queiroz |
|---|---|
| Original title | O Crime do Padre Amaro |
| Country | Portugal |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Publication date | 1875 |
O Crime do Padre Amaro ("The Crime of Father Amaro") is a novel by the 19th-century Portuguese writer José Maria Eça de Queiroz. It was first published in 1875 to great controversy.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The novel tells the story of a young priest, Amaro, who serves as diocesan administrator at Leiria. His illicit love affair with Amélia ends in tragedy; she becomes pregnant and delivers the baby. However, she soon becomes ill because Amaro has arranged for the baby to be taken away. Amelia dies during the night and so does the baby. The church covers up the affair, quietly moving Amaro to a new parish.
[edit] Characters
- Father Amaro - Amaro was born in Lisbon to parents who worked as domestic servants for the marquise of Alegros. After being orphaned at the age of six, he was adopted by the marquise, who decided to educate him at home. He became lazy and womanish thereafter. When Amaro was 13 years old, the marquise died, and he was sent to the seminary although he didn't have a vocation. After arriving in Leiria, where he managed to get a placement, he became involved in a romantic relationship with Amélia, the daughter of Senhhora Joanneira with whom he is living, and the two embark on a passionate and illicit love affair.
- Amélia - Daughter of Joanneira, she didn't know her father and was educated in a very religious environment, because her mother received a lot of visits by 'beatas', exceedingly devout members of the Church. She is betrothed to João Eduardo, a left-wing clerk, but she falls in love with Father Amaro, becomes pregnant by him, and ultimately dies following the delivery when her child is taken from her.
- João Eduardo - A clerk at a notary's office, he is the fiancé of Amélia, hates the clergy, and only goes to the church to impress Amélia and her mother. When he discovers that Amélia and Amaro are flirting, he publishes a letter in a newspaper, A Voz do Distrito (The District's Voice), revealing their involvement as well as the other sins of the clergy. When the people of Leiria find out that João Eduardo was the one who wrote the letter, he loses his job, is excommunicated, and Amélia breaks off the wedding under Amaro's instruction.
- Joanneira - She is a fat, tall woman. The mother of Amélia, after becoming widow, she started being visited by a lot of members of the clergy and became the lover of Canon Dias who frequently dines there and gives her money towards housekeeping.
- Canon Dias - He was Father Amaro's religious teacher during the seminary, is the lover of Joanneira, and also the owner of a large number of rented properties.
- Abbot Ferrão - The only likable priest in the whole story, who represents a new form of Christian love and whose voice is said to be synonymous with that of Eça. He comforts Amélia while she is pregnant and opens the way to her redemption, although Amaro's power over her proves to be too great. He is fond of hunting.
- Doctor Gouveia - The family doctor, a liberal.
- Dionisia - A procuress who helps Father Amaro arrange the affair.
- Father Natário - A dogmatic priest who finds out that João Eduardo is responsible for the infamous article. He is rumored to have had an affair with his two nieces.
- Father Brito - A priest who is removed to a distant mountain parish after the article makes his affair with a noble lady known.
- Uncle Esguelhas - The church bell-ringer. In his house, Father Amaro and Amélia can secretly meet under the guise of teaching his daughter, Totó, to read.
- Doctor Godinho - A prominent liberal in Leiria.
[edit] Translations
- Dutch author J. Slauerhoff translated the work into Dutch in 1932 under the title De misdaad van pater Amaro.
- An English translation by Nan Flanagan appeared in 1962 under the title The Sin of Father Amaro. The novel has also been translated as The Crime of Father Amaro, published in the UK in 2003 by Dedalus Books in a new version by Margaret Jull Costa.
[edit] Film and TV adaptations
In 2002, Carlos Carrera directed a Spanish-language version of O Crime do Padre Amaro (El crimen del padre Amaro) in Mexico. It starred Gael García Bernal as Father Amaro and was greeted with public outrage in Mexico, where Christian groups called for it to be banned. In 2002, it was one of the Best Foreign Language Film Nominees at the 75th Academy Awards. The film was criticized in Portugal as insufficiently faithful to the novel. It was said that Mexico in 2002 has little or nothing to do with the 19th century context in the novel; in addition, Amaro's motivation is different. In the novel his education steers him into the priesthood, whereas in the film he chooses to follow this path himself and has some anticlerical views. Finally, Eça's Amélia is older (aged 23) than her film equivalent, although the actress who played the part (Ana Claudia Talancón) turned 22 in the year the film was released.[1]
In 2005, Carlos Coelho da Silva directed a television movie O Crime do Padre Amaro in Portugal. This was a production sponsored by SIC television channel. Padre Amaro (Jorge Corrula) and Amélia (Soraia Chaves) are the main characters, and sex and nudity are main ingredients.[dubious ][citation needed] According to the IMDB, it is (as of January 2006) the most successful Portuguese movie in Portuguese box office history.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ IMDb
