Doomed or frustrated love is Oliveira's calling card, and he renders Camilo Castelo Branco's classic 1861 novel, a tale of love that increases as it is thwarted by social mores, with a seductive fidelity to the original work. In adapting this "Romeo and Juliet" story complicated by the love of a servant girl for the hero, Oliveira's intriguing style is reminiscent of Japanese theater, rigid formalization sharply contrasting to the violence of the story. "The social codes of early nineteenth-century Lisbon are observed as if under glass" (Elliott Stein), as "the characters' lives intertwine in a fascinating ritual of love-death-freedom" (John Gillett). "Doomed Love is a minuet staged as grand opera" (J. Hoberman).