Monday, October 10, 2005

Filtered vintage: Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands

dona-flor-e-seus-2-maridos03
The presentation I made at the Venezuela embassy on Friday (reminder) went really well. It was great to see once again Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1976) on the big screen. The film is Brazil's biggest box office hit to date (12 million) and was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Foreign Film. It is funny, sexy and very Brazilian. It's an erotic comedy about a woman called Flor (the stunning Sonia Braga) who is married to a pimp-type character (Vadinho, played by Jose Wilker) in 1940's Salvador, Bahia. The sexual rapport of the couple is amazing but the man is not really husband material. To Flor's mother's delight, the bohemian king dies on the second of carnival and Flor soon enough marries the local pharmacist, a super decent man who treats her like a princess. However, Flor has been spoilt by Vadinho in the bedroom department and craves for his sexual antics. No problem: he comes back from the dead and she gets to have two husbands, one who symbolised stability and the other, naked one, who only she can see, for lust. Ideal. The films has hints of Bunuel, Italian comedy and French farce and although it is set in the 1940, the look of the film is completely 70s. A must-see for foreign film lovers.

dona-flor-e-seus-2-maridos02
Amazon link:

No comments: