Morreu João Bénard da Costa, homem de uma imensa cultura e que ensinou gerações a ver cinema.
Escrevia, além disso, muitíssimo bem. Tenho religiosamente guardadas as suas célebres folhas da cinemateca.
Como diz o fantasma do Comandante (citando Keats) em “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir”, um dos filmes da vida de Bénard (e da minha),
“Darkling I listen; and for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Called him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy! (…)
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was it a vision, or a waking dream? “
