In Rio de Janeiro of the 80's, Maria Cecília (Lucélia Santos), the virgin seventeen years old daughter of the wealthy and powerful Dr. Werneck (Carlos Kroeber), is raped by five black men when her car has an engine problem nearby an isolated junkyard. Her upper class family decides that Maria Cecília needs to get married, and Werneck assigns his manager Peixoto (Milton Moraes) to find a fiancée among the employees of the family's company. Peixoto selects Edgard (José Wilker), a simple and single man, and offers him an unusual proposal: if he gets married with Maria Cecília, he would receive a huge amount, as a gift or dowry. However, Edgard has a crush on his neighbor Ritinha (Vera Fischer) and has his own moral principles. An inner fight between greed and moral values divides Edgard, while revelations about Ritinha, Maria Cecília and Peixoto are disclosed to him, ending in a tragedy.
I have just finished watching this version of "Bonitinha, Mas Ordinária" for the fourth or the fifth time, and I found it again a magnificent transposition of an erotic and amoral play of Nelson Rodrigues, one of the best Brazilian dramaturge, to the cinema. Indeed, this is the second transposition to the "big screen" of this play (the first one was in 1963, and I have never find this movie to rent or buy). A Brazilian with short culture, or a foreigner who is not aware of details of our contemporary history, might think that this film is decadent, trash and use other depreciable adjectives to express his opinion. However, it is necessary to see the "big picture" of 1981 to understand this movie. Brazil from the 60's to the beginning of the 80's lived a dictatorship, and the common "relief valve" in the cinema industry was the erotic movies. Being a Catholic country, the common practice in the past (and even in the present days, specially in some traditional families and depending on the region of Brazil) was the woman keep her virginity until her wedding. There are many references to this procedure along the movie. Further, it was a common hypocritical practice, marrying the daughter in an urgent basis when she lost her virginity or got pregnant. Therefore, there is no absurd in the situation of Werneck's family trying to marry Maria Cecília as soon as possible. The writer Nelson Rodrigues had also a very amoral view of the Church, the family and the mankind. In his view, all the families are or become rotten; the middle class is very decadent and false; all the women are bitch and like to be spanked; mankind and church are corrupt and hypocrite. Therefore, "Bonitinha, Mas Ordinária" is a masterpiece in terms of the world of Nelson Rodrigues, and the movie was very successful in 1981, projecting the name of Lucélia Santos on the spots in Brazil. Her performance is really amazing. Just to give an idea to the foreigners (and sorry for the comparison), but Nelson Rodrigues had his rich universe, the same way Pedro Almodóvar has his own outrageous universe and the same way David Lynch has his bizarre universe. If the viewer does not know his universe, probably will not understand and enjoy the story. Another remark is that the Brazilian cinema is one of the best of the world, not in quantity, but in quality. It had a bad moment in the 70's, but fortunately recovered and presently is producing excellent films again. Last but not the least, I regret that this important film has not had a decent distribution. My VHS, horribly recorded in LP, was released by "Isto É" in a collection of important Brazilian movies, and the sound in some parts makes almost impossible to understand what the actors and actresses are speaking. There are only fifty-four votes in IMDb, meaning that probably there is no worldwide distribution of this movie. I feel sorry for the overseas movie lovers, not having the chance to know such film. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Bonitinha, Mas Ordinária" ("Cute, But Bitch")
Note: On 22 December 2010 I saw this film again.
On 25 March 2012 I saw this film again.
I have just finished watching this version of "Bonitinha, Mas Ordinária" for the fourth or the fifth time, and I found it again a magnificent transposition of an erotic and amoral play of Nelson Rodrigues, one of the best Brazilian dramaturge, to the cinema. Indeed, this is the second transposition to the "big screen" of this play (the first one was in 1963, and I have never find this movie to rent or buy). A Brazilian with short culture, or a foreigner who is not aware of details of our contemporary history, might think that this film is decadent, trash and use other depreciable adjectives to express his opinion. However, it is necessary to see the "big picture" of 1981 to understand this movie. Brazil from the 60's to the beginning of the 80's lived a dictatorship, and the common "relief valve" in the cinema industry was the erotic movies. Being a Catholic country, the common practice in the past (and even in the present days, specially in some traditional families and depending on the region of Brazil) was the woman keep her virginity until her wedding. There are many references to this procedure along the movie. Further, it was a common hypocritical practice, marrying the daughter in an urgent basis when she lost her virginity or got pregnant. Therefore, there is no absurd in the situation of Werneck's family trying to marry Maria Cecília as soon as possible. The writer Nelson Rodrigues had also a very amoral view of the Church, the family and the mankind. In his view, all the families are or become rotten; the middle class is very decadent and false; all the women are bitch and like to be spanked; mankind and church are corrupt and hypocrite. Therefore, "Bonitinha, Mas Ordinária" is a masterpiece in terms of the world of Nelson Rodrigues, and the movie was very successful in 1981, projecting the name of Lucélia Santos on the spots in Brazil. Her performance is really amazing. Just to give an idea to the foreigners (and sorry for the comparison), but Nelson Rodrigues had his rich universe, the same way Pedro Almodóvar has his own outrageous universe and the same way David Lynch has his bizarre universe. If the viewer does not know his universe, probably will not understand and enjoy the story. Another remark is that the Brazilian cinema is one of the best of the world, not in quantity, but in quality. It had a bad moment in the 70's, but fortunately recovered and presently is producing excellent films again. Last but not the least, I regret that this important film has not had a decent distribution. My VHS, horribly recorded in LP, was released by "Isto É" in a collection of important Brazilian movies, and the sound in some parts makes almost impossible to understand what the actors and actresses are speaking. There are only fifty-four votes in IMDb, meaning that probably there is no worldwide distribution of this movie. I feel sorry for the overseas movie lovers, not having the chance to know such film. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Bonitinha, Mas Ordinária" ("Cute, But Bitch")
Note: On 22 December 2010 I saw this film again.
On 25 March 2012 I saw this film again.