Shot in gorgeous black-and-white and, at least initially, set in Lisbon between Christmas and New Year, Miguel Tomes' Tabu introduces us to three women; Pilar (Teresa Madruga), Aurora (Laura Soveral) and Santa (Isabel Muñoz Cardoso). Pilar is kind to a fault, and she dedicates her time to helping people, either through actions or through prayer. Despite her kindness, her life seems sad and unfulfilled, an idea which is never spoken of, but which Gomes illustrates - in the best moment of the whole film - by showing Pilar quietly sobbing in a cinema. Pilar is a fascinating character whose unspecified melancholia colours the entirety of the first half of the film, which is appropriately titled "Lost Paradise" (though this title has a more specific meaning in relation to the second half of the film, it also speaks to Pilar's nostalgia or pining for something she can't articulate).