By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: Karim Aïnouz
Starring: Hermila Guedes | Maria Menezes | Zezita Matos
Original language title: O Céu de Suely
Country: brazil
Year: 2007
Running time: 90
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0841175/
Bruce says: “The film starts out with a home movie of ‘The Day I Got Pregnant.’ Hermila dances around the beach with a blue blanket. She was determined to make this day ‘the happiest day of her life or die drowning.’ Karim Aïnouz claims that he was raised in a small Brazilian village in a family where the protagonists were all women. He wanted to bring that type of feeling to the screen in telling a story about Hermila (Hermila Guedes), a young woman who moves back to her small village from São Paulo. In doing so Aïnouz creates an interesting character consumed by youthful passion and self delusion. Hermila thinks the father of her small child will follow but that does not happen. When she approaches his mother, the woman says ‘My son is only 20 and you know what that means?’ Yes, her son will bear no responsibility for raising and caring for the child. Hermila is on her own.
“At first when she returns, her cousin, aunt and good friend all support her. It does not take them long to realize that Hermila is poorly trained as a mother and undisciplined to boot. Although the baby cries constantly, Hermila leaves him with her aunt on the hot summer nights and goes out to drink and dance. An old flame (João Miguel) does his best to woo her. Hermila climbs into his bed willingly but her actions serve only to quench her physical desires not her emotional ones.
‘Eventually, Hermila decides to leave town and go to Porto Allegre in the south of Brazil and start a new life. Having no money she decides to raffle her body for a winner-take-all for one night sweepstakes. The townsfolk do not take her decision lightly. “Like Aïnouz’s earlier film MADAME SATÃ, LOVE FOR SALE has too many shortcomings. None of them are serious flaws but they do have a cumulative effect. There is not enough atmosphere is the film to compensate for the meager story. The most beautiful part of the village is an old water tower with faded pastel buildings in a row at the foot. Hermila’s character needs a bit more fleshing out to produce a truly memorable character study. The cinematography is adequate. The actors are a mix of professionals and non-professionals. 3 cats
“LOVE FOR SALE screened at the 2007 New Directors/New Films festival co-sponsored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and MOMA.”