Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands

CREDITS

Director BRUNO BARRETO Screenplay BRUNO BARRETO Based on the novel by JORGE AMADO Director of Photography MAURILO SALLES Editor RAIMUNDO HIGINO Art Director ANISIO MEDEIROS Music CHICO BUARQUE Sound FRANCIS HIME Produced by LUIZ CARLOS BARRETO NEWTON RIQUE CIA SERRADOR Titles CYRO DEL NERO

CAST

Dona Flor SONIA BRAGA Vadinho JOSE WILKER Teodoro MAURO MENDONCA Rozilda DINORAH BRILLANTI Mirandao NELSON XAVIER Carlinhos ARTHUR COSTA FILHO Cazuza RUI REZENDE Arigof MARIO GUSMAO

www.NewYorkerFilms.com

RUNNING TIME: 1 hour, 46 minutes

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SYNOPSIS

On the Sunday of CARNIVAL in Bahia, Vadinho (Jose Wilker), Dona Flor’s first husband, drops dead of a heart attack while dancing wildly in the streets with his friends. At his funeral, he is remembered by his friends and neighbors as a rascal, gambler, gigolo, and by some, even as a great man. After Vadinho’s burial, Dona Flor (Sonia Braga) is inconsolable and repeatedly remembers the life she had with her husband. Not all of the memories are pleasant, but they are all part of the man she loved and can’t forget. For example, on her wedding night, Vadinho slipped out of bed when she was asleep and made straight for the roulette board and for the local brothel, in the company of his bar-room friends – the black Arigof (Mario Gusmao), his special buddy Mirandao (Nelson Xavier), the perpetual drunk Cazuza Funil (Rui Rezende), the guitarist Carlinhos (Arthur Costa Filho), the poet Clodoaldo (Nelson Dantas) and the dog called 17.

Vadinho was a man who never knew what day it was, much less the time. He recognized no limits, nor did he have any kind of discipline. He could disappear from home for days at a time and on his return, offer no explanation and continue to amuse himself, flirting with Dona Flor’s cooking students. Apart from these minor failings, Vadinho was a marvelous man. He was as great a lover as he was an idler.

In his own way Vadinho deeply loved Flor and knowing this, makes it all the more difficult to forget him. Encouraged by her friends, Norma Dinora (Haydil Linhares) and Jacy (Silvia Cadaval), Flor decides to marry again, but this time her husband is quite different; in fact he is the exact opposite of the first. The husband, Teodoro Madureira (Mauro Mendonca) is a respectable pharmacist and an admirer of classical music. He is a methodical man in everything he does, even when he makes love – this last to be exact, on Wednesday and Saturdays, but he permits himself a “twice’ on special occasions. Nothing is done to excess.

After a year of marriage to this kind and considerate husband, Flor gives an anniversary party at their home. Exhausted after all the excitement of the day, she goes to her room and finds, of all people, Vadinho lying comfortably naked on her bed. The apparition of her first husband doesn’t frighten Flor. She has missed him so much and now it will be so nice to sit down and talk to him. But this is not in the cards at all. The ectoplasmic Vadinho hasn’t come back for just some pleasant chitchat. He begins where he left off in life and tries to make love to Flor. She is quite shocked and explains that she is now a respectable married woman, and for the time being, Vadinho leaves her alone. He turns his attention to the casinos and being invisible to others, helps his friends to make a fortune on his favorite number, 17, at the roulette wheel.

Vadinho then continues his advances to Flor and each time she finds it harder to resist his lovemaking overtures. Finally she succumbs to her first husband and in the process discovers how happy she can be living with two husbands, loving and being loved by both of them.

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BIOGRAPHIES

BRUNO BARRETO - Director

Bruno Barreto started with home movies when he was eight and hasn’t stopped since. Now, at 23, he is about to finish his fourth feature film, BELOVED LOVER< which will open in Brazil next June. All his films have been enormous hits in Brazil. TATI, THE GIRL, made when he was 18, was the highest grossing film of 1973. THE RISING STAR, following two years later, was then the most popular Brazilian film in the history of the industry. This record was toppled by DONA FLOR ($8,000,000), which also had the highest budget of any film made in Brazil at that time ($700,000). DONA FLOR was a milestone, bridging the gap between Brazilian films and the popular audiences, and reconciling ideas of Brazilian CINEMA NOBO (Brazilian films independently made) with the requests of an emerging industry (Brazilian films for general audiences).

JORGE AMADO - Writer of the original novel

Bahia is the home of DONA FLOR and Jorge Amado, one of the most prestigious writers from Latin America (TERESA BATISTA, HOME FROM THE WARS, TENT OF MIRACLES, and GABRIELA, CLOVE AND CINNAMON are in print in the U.S.). Amado finds inspiration for all the characters in his novels in real people from Bahian life, and no one depicts with more colorful words and images the sensuousness and the joys of living in the tropics.

LUIS CARLOS BARRETO - Producer

Luis Carlos Barreto is the producer of innumerable films of the CINEMA NOVO (Glauber Rocha, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Carlos Diegues, and Joaquim Pedro de Andrade’s foremost films were Barreto’s co-productions). Recently, he has become chairman of EMBRAFILME, the film production company that has been responsible for financing and distributing many of the country’s recent artistic and commercial successes.

SONIA BRAGA - Dona Flor

Sonia Braga is the most well-known star in Brazil. She enjoys enormous popularity from her appearances on TV GLOBO, the Brazilian network. Her roles in TV soap operas—which are shown on primetime TV, and have productions values equivalent to the avoce average TV movie produced in America—have made her a multi-million cruzeiro girl. She appeared briefly on stage (HAIR) and started her career in the movies with top billing from her very first film. Her latest feature, LADY IN THE BUS, opened in Brazil last week to favorable notices and high grosses, especially due to her talent and sex appeal.

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