The other reviews here have easily fallen into the trap that Independent Films often provide. Start with moody cinematography, a lack of a rational plot, a heroic main character who finds life baffling, and a non-ending ending: There you have the formula for praise. Since I already know the deal, I often find myself at odds with the majority of reviewers. Take my advice--write down the scenario I just outlined, watch this movie, and see if I haven't nailed it. There is one character we will find appealing--a sweet old father who is tied to the hip of his daughter (and she his) and is slowly dying without knowing it. The love she freely gives to him is in direct contrast to her inability to connect in a romantic relationship. Her main use of men is for sex, which she adores, but prefers to have with random guys who she never wants to see again. She mistreats the one man that professes to love her (I think he just likes her body), even pretending to her father that he is really her boyfriend (the much wiser Dad couldn't care less, wanting his daughter to choose her own happiness. But Veronica is incapable of happiness. She wanders through the public psychiatric clinic like a catatonic, barely functional, and showing neither insight nor empathy for her poor, hapless patients. We are given no idea as to why she became a doctor or chose this specialty, for her disdain for it begins to show itself on her first day of work, and only grows worse with each passing day. Meanwhile, her two best friends can only babble on about the absence of men in their lives and merely urge Veronica to "snap out of it." Yeah. Anyone who has ever suffered from depression knows how helpful THAT phrase is (NOT)!!!! The movie ends with Papa hovering near death, Veronica feeling content with that because she bought him her childhood house as a present. She has somehow been promoted to work at a private hospital with a huge pay raise. We are given no clue as to whether this is going to help her escape from massive negative ennui. Ahhh, but the saving grace for many Brazilians appears to save the day: floating immersed in the Sea (capital letter essential), with thoughts of a nude orgy on the beach which may or may not be a memory or a fantasy, she tells herself something unmemorable, which gratefully releases us from her empty self. If you like that, you are welcome to it.
Review of Once Upon a Time Veronica
