A Dona da História (2004)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Daniel Filho

Writers:

João Emanuel Carneiro (writer)
João Falcão (play)

Release Date:

1 October 2004 (Brazil)

Genre:

Romance | Comedy

Plot:

A 50 year-old woman who analyses her past. She pictures herself when she was 20 years old and she re-creates...

Plot Keywords:

Past | Memory | Theater | Couple | Protest

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Marieta Severo	...	Carolina
Débora Falabella	...	Carolina / Young
Antônio Fagundes	...	Luiz Cláudio
Rodrigo Santoro	...	Luiz Cláudio / Young
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Paulo Barbosa	...	Fellow #3
Dedina Bernardelli	...	Woman 1 / Couple 2
Gabriel Braga Nunes
Clovis Bueno	...	Fellow #2
Bianca Byington	...	Woman 2 / Couple 2
Daniel de Oliveira	...	Paulinho Oliveira
Antônio Fragoso	...	Husband / Couple 1
Manoel Francisco	...	Ballet's Professor
Ana Furtado	...	Wife / Couple 1
Giulia Gam	...	Carolina's Mother
Gilberto Hernández	...	Cristiano / Soapopera
Fernanda Lima	...	Maria Helena
Carlos Loffler	...	Chamberman
Marcos Oliveira	...	Nicolau
Henri Pagnoncelli	...	50 years old man
Charles Paraventi	...	Fellow #1
Rodrigo Penna	...	Nicolau / young
José Carlos Pieri	...	General Telles
Herbert Richers Jr.	...	Interviewer
Renata Sorrah	...	Maria Helena / Vivian Maia
Ignes Vianna	...	Actress

Also Known As:

Owner of the Story (International: English title)

Runtime:

Brazil:84 min

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Brazil:10

Filming Locations:

Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Company:

Lereby Productions

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The movie is set on the present day (2003/2004), and if the young Carolina is supposed to be 30 years younger than her mature self she would be living in 1973/1974. Instead, her younger self is clearly living in the 1960's, judging from the dresses she wears, the hair-style she uses and the historical events surrounding the story. The filmmakers were probably aware of this, but chose the 1960s because it's widely considered a far more interesting period in Brazilian history than the 1970s.

Movie Connections:

Features "Programa do Jô" (2000)

Thoughtful, crafty and well acted Brazilian movie.

This movie picture (Her History's Mistress, in loose translation) is one of those that make you think long and hard about life, love, the individual destiny of common people and the role that small chance decisions play in changing all this in dramatic ways.

The main actresses of the film (Marieta Severo and Debora Fallabela) plays Carolina, now a 50-old women who is living alone with her husband of 30 years, Luiz Cláudio (played by Rodrigo Santoro and Antonio Fagundes), an architect. Their four kids are gone from the nest and they are selling their big beachfront apartment, where they have lived happily most of their adult life, and moving to a smaller flat.

Carolina starts to relive her past years as a young ballet student, who wanted to become a big actress. She feels frustrated that she had to abandon her ambitions in exchange for a married and emotionally stable life with her first boyfriend and the great love of her life. She then replays in her imagination how her life could be different if she could decide in different ways. She imagines two alternative life tracks: one, becoming the great actress she wanted to be, and the other, becoming a solitary spinster with a bleak job. In both her imagined lives she didn't marry her present husband. She wants to ask for divorce, so that she could be a mistress of her own destiny again.

The plot may look as being too cliché, but actually, thanks to a masterful cinematic adaptation of the original book, a good use of flashback, and to the gorgeous performances by Severo, Fallabela and Santoro (the veteran Fagundes' performance is not up to his usual standard, but that's not his fault: his character is bovinely calm and does not demand much of him), the movie picture delivers very well. It is never boring and surprises you all the time, with humor, good storytelling and delightful insights and lines. Photography and sound are absolutely world class, and the musical background is marvelous (the leitmotiv for Carolina is the beautiful melody Dindi, composed many years ago by Tom Jobim).

The final (I will not spoil the surprise) is quite emotional, and it is hard to anyone to avoid some tears.

For me, this is what movies should be about. Technically well done, esthetically beautiful; entertaining, but at the same time thoughtful and intellectually fulfilling. It is interesting to observe how the "feeling" of good Brazilian movies are so different from movies from other countries. I am a Brazilian, so I don't know for sure, but I would like to read what Americans, Europeans or Asiatics feel when they watch this artful and creative landscape of human emotions and relationships according to our national character.

The director Daniel Filho is to be applauded for one more victory of the new Brazilian cinema, with so many recent international triumphs, such as Cidade de Deus, Abril Despedaçado, Central do Brasil, and others.