Tabu (2012) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

The film is set in two main locations: present-day Lisbon, Portugal, where three women share an apartment, and 1960s colonial Mozambique, specifically on a tea farm near Mount Tabu. The story also briefly travels to India, linking past and present through memory and legend.

• lisbon
• mozambique
• mount tabu
• africa
• india
• setting
• locations

Tabu shifts between two time periods: the 1960s during the Portuguese Colonial War in Mozambique, and present-day Lisbon. The 1960s African segment shows Aurora's youth on the tea farm, while the modern scenes follow her as an elderly woman confronting memory and unresolved guilt.

• 1960s
• portuguese colonial war
• mozambique
• present day
• lisbon
• time period
• era

The film uses Aurora's time on a tea farm in Mozambique during the Portuguese Colonial War as a central backdrop. Her affair with Gian-Luca and the murder of Mario become intertwined with political manipulation, showing how personal passions were corrupted by imperial power. The colonial context drives the film's exploration of guilt and memory.

• colonialism
• portuguese empire
• mozambique
• colonial war
• imperialism
• political context

Guilt operates as a generational force in Tabu, anchored by Aurora's murder of Mario and its deliberate cover-up. The film presents memory as something passed down through stories that never fully heal. The narrative uses intimate female relationships to reveal how silence both sustains and unmasks hidden truths.

• guilt
• secrets
• murder
• cover-up
• memory
• silence
• generations

Tabu opens with a legend told by director Miguel Gomes, framing the story as a tale where myth and memoir blur. The crocodile, river, and Aurora's hidden story function as living folklore that questions the nature of truth. The film oscillates between documentary-like observation and a lyrical, mythic register.

• narrative style
• legend
• memory
• folklore
• myth
• storytelling
• non-fiction
• mythic

Aurora is an octogenarian living in Lisbon who survives on her pension. In 1960s Africa, she was a skilled hunter on a tea farm near Mount Tabu and kept a pet crocodile. Her passionate affair with Gian-Luca led to a murder that shaped the memory haunting present-day events. She is eccentric, talkative, and superstitious.

• aurora
• hunter
• tea farm
• crocodile
• mozambique
• old woman
• protagonist

Pilar, Aurora, and Santa form a complex web of care, secrecy, and resistance to isolation living in the same Lisbon apartment. Pilar is a middle-aged, Catholic social benefactor who meddles in Aurora's life. Santa is a housemaid from Cape Verde skilled in voodoo divination, quiet and enigmatic. Their interactions reveal resilience and moral complexity.

• pilar
• santa
• lisbon
• apartment
• female relationships
• women
• solidarity
• dynamic

Gian-Luca Ventura is an old man who lived in Mozambique and narrates Aurora's African story. He was Aurora's lover and cannot forget her. After leaving Africa, he moved to India and then to Lisbon in search of truth about the past. He ultimately respects Aurora's wishes, burning her final letter and choosing distance over reconciliation.

• gian-luca
• lover
• mozambique
• india
• narrator
• aurora's past

Tabu explores female solidarity through the trio of women in Lisbon, Pilar, Aurora, and Santa, who navigate loneliness, superstition, and desire together. Their relationships are marked by both care and secrets, showing how women support and restrain each other. The film presents these bonds as a source of resilience amid danger and gossip.

• female relationships
• women
• solidarity
• support
• emotional bonds
• lisbon apartment

Tabu has a dominantly melancholic tone, characterized by a pervasive sense of loss, unresolved longing, and quiet sadness. The film's deliberate, slow pacing prioritizes atmosphere and reflection over high-stakes tension. Despite the sadness, the ending suggests a persistent, legendary connection that transcends time, blending bittersweet emotion with enduring tenderness.

• tone
• mood
• melancholy
• sadness
• slow pacing
• atmosphere
• bittersweet
• emotional