Snu: Do you know how many women in Portugal die every year in clandestine abortions or as a consequence of having them?
Censor: I don't know and I don't care.
Snu: Well, I know. And I care.
Censor: I don't know and I don't care.
Snu: Well, I know. And I care.
Snu is a 2019 Portuguese historical romantic drama film directed by Patrícia Sequeira.
Snu Abecassis is a Danish immigrant living in Portugal and founder of one of the country's most important publishers, Publicações Dom Quixote. In the years after the fall of the authoritarian and conservative Estado Novo regime, Snu seeks to help Portugal become a more progressive and prosperous country. She ends up becoming romantically involved with the politician Francisco de Sá Carneiro, one of the founders of the Social Democratic Party.
Tropes:
- Amicable Exes: Snu and her husband divorce on good terms. There's a scene where both he and Sá Carneiro are with Snu at the hospital after she collapses, and Snu quips in front of both of them that they are her two husbands.
- Appropriated Appellation: Snu explains that she was named Ebba at birth, but everyone called her "Snu" (meaning "clever") instead and at some point she started signing her name as Snu, making it official.
- Expecting Someone Taller: Sá Carneiro expected Snu to be an old lady, and also not so tall. Snu in turn expected Sá Carneiro to be rather taller (Sá Carneiro was famously on the short side in real life).
- Foot-Dragging Divorcee: Sá Carneiro wants to divorce his wife Isabel so he can marry Snu, but Isabel staunchly refuses. Sá Carneiro and Snu thus live together while he is married to someone else, which is quite scandalous for Portugal at the time and puts Sá Carneiro's political career in jeopardy.
- Foregone Conclusion: If you didn't know that historically, Snu and Sá Carneiro died in a plane crash in 1980, the film makes sure to let you know straight away in the first scene, which shows the reactions of various characters and includes a real telecast announcing their deaths. The film ends with the two about to board the plane.
- Large Ham: Natália Correia, who tends to speak grandiosely even when chatting casually to her friends, as though she were reciting poetry.
- Local Hangout: The Botequim (run by Natália Correia), where the intellectual circles, which include Snu and Sá Carneiro, gather.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Snu and Sá Carneiro are both cheating on their spouses when they start their affair, but they are framed as heroic characters (for reasons other than their cheating) and the film is sympathetic to their love story.
