Vitalina Varela takes its title from the name of its lead actress, a Cape Verdean woman who, as per usual with Costa's non-professional actors, plays a fictionalized version of herself. Vitalina first appeared in an episode in the director's previous film, Horse Money (Wavelengths 2015), wherein she recounted how her husband had left their homeland nearly 25 years ago to work in Lisbon - a separation that became permanent when she finally arrived on the continent, three days after his funeral. In Vitalina Varela, Costa refracts and expands that episode to place us firmly within his heroine's stoic point of view, capturing her extraordinary strength and resilience as she navigates the scanty physical traces her husband left behind, discovers his secret, illicit life, and encounters the other lives that darken the shadows of the Fontainhas that once was. 我们所付出的成为了我们: 《维塔利娜·瓦雷拉》中的在场与缺席。《维塔利娜·瓦雷拉》|极端的美学风格。回忆在静止中来袭。极端的美学风格与诗意的现实关注令人震撼。我们都来自那一抹阴暗。Two Eyes in the Night（下）| 雅克•朗西埃评《维塔利娜•瓦雷拉》。Two Eyes in the Night（上）| 雅克•朗西埃评《维塔利娜•瓦雷拉》。绝望的归属。译 电影必须成为一种仪式：佩德罗·科斯塔谈论《维塔利娜·瓦雷拉》。维塔利娜。 薇塔莉娜经过漫长的等待，总算盼到一张从非洲维德角到里斯本的机票，然而迎接她的并非丈夫允诺的美好未来，而是天人永隔的哀伤，以及迷雾般的身后事。两人上次见面已经是多年前，期间渺无音讯，谣言说丈夫卷入了肮脏阴暗的利益纠纷，却没人知道他究竟发生了什么事。伤心的薇塔莉娜寡居在丈夫生前的幽窄小屋中，独自在暗夜的巷弄间徘徊，循着渺茫的线索踽踽前行，在梦回时分熬过那一个个痛苦孤绝的夜晚，探向晦暗未明阴影后的救赎。
