(The flesh is weak.) The scenes of lovemaking are also superb - honest, real and true. In one of “Dona Flor”‘s most amusing scenes, the scoundrel Vadinho sits Budda-style atop the bedroom armoire, laughing at Teodoro’s inept, missionary-style lovemaking.īarreto’s direction combines sensitivity, wisdom and humor with special empathy for the frailty of human beings. The pious Dona Flor vows to be faithful to Teodoro, and the struggle between what is right and what feels good becomes the film’s central conflict. And while Dona Flor attempts to remain content in her new marriage, it is no time before her dead husband’s ghost - fully naked - enters her house and her bed. In the ensuing scenes, Barreto shows us exactly why the formal, polite Teodoro could never satisfy his wife as a sexual partner. Teodoro reaches his arm across Dona Flor’s back, almost touches his new wife but then self-consciously withdraws, inhibiting his own desire. Dona Flor quickly secures her place as the affluent wife of the respected doctor, and her happiness should be assured.īut in a quietly stunning scene just after the wedding, Barreto gives us a telling glimpse of the trouble in paradise. Kind, respectful, successful and fastidious, Teodoro is Vadinho’s opposite in every way. As her period of mourning ends, Dona Flor finds herself the object of the attentions of Mauro Mendonca’s physician, Teodoro.
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