Romance da Empregada (1987)

Fausta is a survivor who dreams of building a house on land she's buying on the installment plan. Meanwhile she lives in a one-room tin-roofed hovel with her idle husband, João, and she ... See full summary »

Director:

Bruno Barreto

Writer:

Naum Alves de Sousa

Stars:

Maria Alves, Expedito Barreira, Nika Bonfim

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Maria Alves
Expedito Barreira
Nika Bonfim
Mario Borges
Neuza Borges
Candido Damm
Betty Faria	...	Fausta
Arthur Costa Filho
Brandão Filho	...	Zé da Placa
Daniel Filho	...	João
Stela Freitas	...	Fausta's friend
Raul Gazolla
Cláudia Jimenez
Eri Johnson
Lutero Luiz	...	Policeman

Storyline

Fausta is a survivor who dreams of building a house on land she's buying on the installment plan. Meanwhile she lives in a one-room tin-roofed hovel with her idle husband, João, and she works as a maid. The elderly but randy Zé, who carries advertising signs at the train station, buys her perfume and invites her to spend Sundays with him. She accepts. After João injures his foot, stops work, drinks more, and wallows in self pity, Fausta sees Zé as her way out, if he'll help her buy the land and build a house. Through it all she's a scourge, arguing, jeering and being jeered, but also displaying the spirit and energy of her idol, Tina Turner.

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Also Known As:

The Story of Fausta

Company Credits

Production Co:

Embrafilme, Lorentzen Empreendimentos e Participações, Luiz Carlos Barreto Produções Cinematográficas

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Struggles of working-class Brazilians, funny and sad

I've watched this movie several times, because its depiction of the everyday life of working-class Brazilians fascinates me, with plenty of heartbreak and some occasional laughter. But I'm not prepared to say how realistic it is. I would ask a Brazilian for an opinion on that.

I like Betty Faria a lot; she was also in "Bye Bye Brazil" and many other Brazilian films, and she's very funny when she wants to be. Brandao Filho is also very charming as the old man that Fausta connects with. But, boy, Bruno Barreto sure knows how to make a depressing movie.

Ruben Blades did the music on the soundtrack--Lord knows why. It's good but it didn't seem very Brazilian to me.