Oliveira then made his most ambitious film to that date, "The Satin Slipper" ("Le Soulier de Satin"), based on the notorious 1929 epic play by Paul Claudel, which is rarely performed in its entirety due to its length. The seven-hour film took Oliveira two years to complete. It was Oliveira's first film in French, as well as his first film with actor Luís Miguel Cintra, who would go on to act in all of his films from then on. The story of "The Satin Slipper" is about the unrequited love of sixteenth-century conquistador Don Rodrigue and nobelwoman Dona Prouheze with the backdrop of colonialism in Africa and the Americas. The film opens with a theater gradually being filled with an audience and an introduction to the film on stage. The film itself uses very theatrical set pieces, such as cardboard waves and backdrops. The film was never released theatrically, but was screened at both the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and the 1985 Venice Film Festival, where Oliveira received a special Golden Lion for his career up to that point. Later the Brussels Cinematheque awarded the film its L'Âge d'or Prize.