The Deceased (1965) User Reviews

The Morbid and Tragic World of Nelson Rodrigues

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 9 February 2010]

In the suburb of Sampaio, the lower class Zulmira (Fernanda Montenegro) visits a fortune teller Madame Crisálida (Wanda Lacerda) that advises her to be careful with the blonde woman. When her unemployed husband Toninho (Ivan Cândido) returns home from the pool at the bar, she tells him the words of Madame Crisálida and guesses that the "blondie" might be her neighbor and cousin Glorinha. However, in their boring life, soccer is the relief valve of the mediocre Toninho that is actually worried about the final soccer game of the "Carioca" (from Rio de Janeiro) Championship where his team Vasco will play against Fluminense and does not pay much attention in his wife. Zulmira develops a morbid fixation and plots her own burial, with unforgettable fancy obsequies to make Glorinha envies her. She stays in the rain and dies of pneumonia, but first she forces Toninho to promise her in the deathbed the dreamt funeral. He explains that he does not have enough money, and she asks him to seek out João Guimarães Pimentel (Paulo Gracindo) that would pay for the ceremony. When Toninho finds Guimarães, the wealthy man discloses his relationship with Zulmira to her husband.

"A Falecida" is a feature based on a play of the dramaturge Nelson Rodrigues where his morbid and tragic world is disclosed through the life and death of a suburban wife that has an empty, boring and mediocre existence in limbo with her alienated husband in a poor house in a hamlet. Zulmira's greatest concern is with her neighbors and not with herself and her greatest desire is to have a fancy funeral as a kind of self-punishment for her love affair. This tragic-comic situation, with a worthless woman together with scum like Guimarães or the undertaker Timbira are elements of the brilliant work of Nelson Rodrigues. The restored copy released on DVD by the Brazilian Distributor Videofilmes is a must-see and a fantastic chance to see Fernanda Montenegro, who is the best Brazilian actress, in her debut in the cinema. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Falecida" ("The Deceased")

Faboulous

[lso-soares · 8/10 · 17 February 2022]

Another movie from Cinema Novo that I watch to follow Prof's class. Alisson Gutemberg in Cinema com Teoria.

Directed by Leon Hirszman, with the cast Fernanda Montenegro (Zulmira), Ivan Cândido (Toninho), Paulo Gracindo (João Guimarães), Nelson Xavier (Timbira), and Joel Barcellos (funeral partner).

Shot in black and white, away from the studios, the film follows Zulmira, a resident of the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, penniless, married to Toninho, unhappy in life, sick of the lung, wishing for death and a first-rate burial. Toninho is unemployed and has a very banal routine: bar, talking about Vasco, his favorite soccer team, and at home, where he doesn't usually interact with his wife. He eats, goes to bed, sleeps, gets up, without a dialogue with Zulmira. She plans her funeral, making the quotation at the funeral home, and, on her deathbed, asks Toninho to fulfill her wish. To pay for the funeral, she tells her husband to look for João Guimarães, when Toninho will discover the truth about his wife.

It could only be a text by Nelson Rodrigues, who knew, like no one else, how to portray the troubled relationships of people who lived on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.

Following the Cinema Novo booklet, A Falecida brings the raw reality of Rio's lower class society, showing wooden huts, with moldy walls, and a bathroom outside the house, in addition to the small scams always present in Rio's trickery. In addition to putting the issue of unemployment, even if tangentially, in the plot. The political issue, unlike other Cinema Novo films, is not present, which may demonstrate that the underprivileged class did not have so much information or that they already had many problems to worry about.

Fernanda Montenegro debuts in theaters in this film and already delivers a breathtaking performance. The scene in which she takes a shower in the rain, revealing a small moment of happiness, is remarkable.

Nelson Rodrigues' drama

[Elainet · 8 March 1999]

This film was based in a Nelson Rodrigues' story. It's about a married woman , who lives in a suburb in Rio de Janeiro . She's not happy and dreams of a sophisticated funeral for herself. Fernanda Montenegro is one of the best ( I can say the best) actresses of Brazil and Nelson Rodrigues one of the best dramatists. A great drama.