Adiós, Roberto

Roberto, an office worker, is going through a separation from his wife Marta, with whom he shares a son. Lacking a place to live, he follows a friend's advice and meets his cousin Marcelo, a writer who lives in a spacious apartment. Roberto moves in with Marcelo, and the two quickly form a strong, if initially uneasy, friendship.

Unbeknownst to Roberto at first, Marcelo is homosexual, which surprises Roberto and challenges his assumptions. The two men grow closer as Roberto settles into Marcelo's home, creating a bond that feels both supportive and unsettled. Their living arrangement marks a turning point in Roberto's view of his own life.

Marcelo opens up to Roberto about his lack of attraction to women, sharing his inner truth with his cousin. Roberto listens, and this confession begins to push him to confront his own prejudices. The friendship deepens as Marcelo's honesty breaks down some of the walls between them.

After a night of drinking and attending an artistic gathering, hints of a possible sexual encounter between the two men arise. The moment remains ambiguous, leaving Roberto to question what the boundary between friendship and desire might be. The tension tests Roberto's comfort with changing norms.

Roberto's internal struggle surfaces through dreams and visions that echo his fears and judgments from others. He fears rejection from neighborhood friends and the pressure to conform to heterosexual norms. These nocturnal experiences blur the line between reality and fantasy as he debates his future.

Marta pleads with Roberto to reconcile, adding emotional pressure at a time when his friendship with Marcelo is intensifying. The outside world pushes him toward difficult choices about his living situation and his identity. The tension between family duty and personal truth grows.

A Catholic priest condemns Marcelo's relationship as an offense to God, intensifying Roberto's fear of social condemnation. The church's pronouncements amplify the sense that Roberto is breaking with accepted norms. This moral pressure weighs on him as he weighs his loyalties.

A psychologist suggests therapeutic treatment to help Roberto cope with his turmoil. The confrontation with therapy adds to the sense that his crisis is medicalized and solvable through professional help. Roberto feels the weight of experts interpreting his situation.

Roberto encounters disbelief from a prostitute he once frequented as a child, who questions his new life and choices. This encounter underscores the social stigma he faces from multiple directions. The memory of past behavior contrasts with his current questions about identity.

A neighborhood bully, accompanied by plainclothes police, threatens to pull the trigger and kill Marcelo. The menacing scene crystallizes the risk of social violence against their bond. It forces Roberto to confront real world danger linked to his nonconformity.

Roberto endures his mother's tears as she pleads for him to choose a conventional path. The maternal anguish adds a personal and intimate pressure to abandon Marcelo. The scene highlights the family stakes behind his crisis.

Overwhelmed by the pressures, Roberto decides to leave Marcelo and moves into a budget hotel. The separation feels like surrendering his new life in favor of safety and social acceptance. The choice marks a low point in his emotional arc.

During this turbulent period, Roberto has a nervous breakdown and wanders through the street in his underwear. His vulnerability becomes public when he is arrested. This scene marks a turning point where his personal crisis becomes a legal matter.

With only a single phone call available, Roberto reaches out to Marcelo, who arrives at the police station with a lawyer to secure his release. Marcelo's intervention prevents a harsher outcome and reconnects them briefly in a moment of rescue. The episode confirms Marcelo's importance in Roberto's life.

Roberto is freed and is reunited with his wife and son, who had already been informed by Marcelo. Still, Marcelo prepares to leave, asking where he is going next. Marcelo replies that he will go home, implying that his own life will continue elsewhere, and bids Roberto a not quite farewell.