Duas Mulheres (2009) Reviews

• Seduction, money and power…

  mario_c2011-03-04

  DUAS MULHERES is a Portuguese Drama which tells us the story of a woman, a psychiatrist doctor, JOANA (played by the great Portuguese actress Beatriz Batarda) which is married to an administrative of an important corporation, PAULO AMORIM (played by Virgilio Castelo). In spite of living in the world of high class society we understand from the beginning that JOANA is not very connected to it and even seem to not like its status and the hypocrisy so many times is related to it… The plot begins when JOANA meets MONICA (Débora Monteiro), a beautiful and mysterious woman. MONICA starts sending sms to JOANA and this last one let herself go in this game of seduction… The affair between the two women is the main topic of the plot but there is another subplot that will cross to this main topic and to the fate of the two women: the subplot about PAULO AMORIM and the financial world/high society where he's inserted. In fact is this last character that will determinate the final disclosures and the way the relationship between the two women ends… To be honest I expected this film would be a little more "commercial" and "modern" in the sense of what we can call the "new Portuguese cinema" – a kind of mainstream cinema, and not so connected to the "traditional" Portuguese movie… What I mean is that the pace, the acting and the meaning/message of the film are too close to the artsy cinematography that is used to be associated to Portuguese cinema, in opposition to those recent mainstream films I did refer (some like CALL GIRL, ARTE DE ROUBAR, etc…). That said I must refer the pace is too slow, the acting could have been better and the message (which I suppose to have something to do with the Human condition and its connection to money and financial power) should have had another and better explanations in the plot. The film also has some erotic and very seductive lesbian scenes between the two actresses which are perfectly inserted and connected to the plot in my point of view. I score it 6/10.