Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands

Bruno Barreto was 20 years old when he injected new life into Brazilian cinema and discovered Sônia Braga with this sensuous comedy-fantasy, based on Jorge Amado’s best-selling classic 1966 novel. Braga stars as Flor, whose gambling, unfaithful husband Vadinho (José Wilker, Bye Bye Brazil) drops dead while dancing in the streets of Bahia during carnival. Eight years later, Flor gets the respectable husband she’s always yearned for in Dr. Teodoro Madureira (Mauro Mendonça), but her neglected libido calls her first husband from the grave…. Making rich use of Salvador’s colonial palette, Murillo Salles’s inspired camerawork brilliantly contrasts Bahia’s rigid middle-class behavior and morals with the libertine life richly embodied by Wilker’s blond malandro and Braga’s erotic breakthrough performance. The song “O que será” by Chico Buarque, one of the biggest hits of his career, was written and composed especially for the film. Dona Flor became Brazil’s most successful film upon its domestic release in 1976, and remained its highest grossing film for 35 years. Internationally, it received Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations and was the highest-grossing Brazilian film worldwide for more than 30 years. 4K Restoration courtesy of Film Movement.