A Dama do Lotação (1978)

Director:

Neville de Almeida

Writers:

Nelson Rodrigues (writer)
Neville de Almeida (writer)

Release Date:

December 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Carlos and Solange, childhood sweethearts, marry after a chaste courtship. On their wedding night, Solange refuses to make love to him...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Female Nudity | Female To Male Footsie Playing | Footsie Under The Table | Cuckold

Cast

Sonia Braga	...	Solange
Nuno Leal Maia	...	Carlos
Jorge Dória
Paulo César Peréio
Cláudio Marzo
Márcia Rodrigues
Paulo Villaça
Roberto Bonfim
Rodolfo Arena
Ney Santanna
Ivan Setta
Washington Fernandes
Waldir Onofre
Thaís de Andrade
Liege Monteiro

Also Known As:

Lady on the Bus

Runtime:

90 min | USA:86 min (video version)

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R

Company:

Embrafilme

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004) (TV)

A Beautiful Woman Searching for an answer

I saw this film when I was a teenager --so I guess if you're an adult and see it for the first time, it wouldn't do much for you, but as a teen who has never been anywhere, or know much of anything, its quite interesting.

What perspective I got from this film: a beautiful woman, Solange, who felt she was doing all of the traditional things in life -- without actually doing it -- did not face all the realities of it...love, marriage, sex, until it was thrust, violently, upon her.

I found that quite interesting considering "Lady on the Bus" was made at a time when women were able to express more individual freedom than that. But this was a different country, different culture, and this film brought that point up clearly and repeatedly.

When Solange got married, which was in a "nice, traditional, family" ceremony, she was in the whirlwind of "the ceremony" and not "the reality" of marriage. She did all the "girly" things of what she thought what was expected of her -- and then, she actually had a real, living, breathing, (sexually stalled through courtship) man who was now her husband to contend with.

Reality. Bitter, reality.

He's now her husband AND his property. She is to do whatever he wants her to do and when. And because she was sexually and emotionally retarded, she cannot understand why.

Maybe it was through the rape during her wedding night -- or maybe it was something else. She tries to get help and in turn transforms into the very thing she was trying to avoid.

Why? There is a malicious reason -- which is the basis of this film.

To make matters more interesting, is to find out how she was led to all of this and why. Sure, you can concentrate on her meeting of strangers for sexual partners on a bus, but you have to look deeper as to WHY that is. That is what kept my interest in the film.

If you're looking for a foreign cinema masterpiece, this isn't it. If you're looking for a soft porn film, errrr...I didn't quite get that either, (remember: this is Sonja at her peak career stage as the South American sizzling sexpot) but if you're looking for a film about a sexually and morally confused woman who's trying to find her footing in life to be whatever it is she is to be, ya might want to give this film a look.