AllMovie

Something is rotten in the little Portuguese town depicted in this movie, but that rottenness is more a matter of mood than of plot in this leisurely drama. The factory owner may be sabotaging his own buildings to get insurance settlements in order to keep going. A former arsonist has come back to his hometown, seemingly only to conduct an affair with a quite young woman. The town's high-school teacher is trying to put on a production of the ancient Greek classic play Antigone, but the town's bullies have other ideas, for reasons which are never made clear. All these stories and others are recounted by a helpful bartender.