Elite Devassa (1984) User Reviews

Pretentious Erotic Thriller

[claudio_carvalho · 4/10 · 2 January 2011]

Teodoro D'Angelo (Thales Pan Chacon) arrives in São Paulo from Florianópolis expecting to have better conditions to support his family working as driver. He is hired by the wealthy Marina (Selma Egrei) to work for her family and Teodoro learns that her husband Renato is traveling in Europe in a business trip. Teodoro is assigned to drive to Campos do Jordào, where Marina has a vacation manor. Marina introduces her sister Luisa (Patricia Scalvi) and her daughter Ana Paula that are spending vacation in the house. Sooner Marina tells Teodoro that her husband is impotent and Luiza is her rival in her love affairs. Marina has sex with Teodoro while the mysterious snooper Clóvis has hidden cameras in every room like in a Big Brother show, watching the infidelity of Marina with Teodoro. Then Luisa seduces Teodoro and they have sex. When Teodoro goes on downtown for shopping with Marina, two strangers approach to him and tells him that the previous family drivers Alfredo and Renato were killed in the house, but he does not give credit to the words of the men.

"Elite Devassa' is a pretentious erotic thriller with elementary story, terrible screenplay and awful edition. The cinematography and the camera work are stylish but the chaotic narration and the silly plot make it a forgettable film. Unfortunately, even the sexy Aldine Muller that was worshiped in the 80's shows many cellulite in her butt in the digital image, but her threesome is very erotic. The soundtrack with Pink Floyd and Emerson, Lake & Palmer does not fit well to the plot. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Elite Devassa" ("Debauched Elite")

Labyrinth of sex and danger

[andrabem-1 · 1 August 2010]

"Elite Devassa" (roughly translated, libertine elite) is a "brazilian giallo"/pornochanchada that has a good story chaotically told.

Teodoro (Thales Pan Chacon) arrives to the big city of São Paulo looking for a job as a chauffeur. He finally finds a job with the Alcântara Machado family - they have a house in Campos do Jordão, a mountainous city located several hours from São Paulo. Already in the beginning, one notices that there's something different in the Alcântara Machado household. Teodoro had been hired by Marina (Selma Egrei) - her husband is on a business trip in Europe. Marina has a sister, Luisa (Patricia Scalvi), and a daughter, Ana Paula. The sisters are rivals and dislike each other. Ana Paula, Marina's daughter, distrusts not only her mother, but also her aunt, Luisa.

There's an atmosphere of distrust and fear in the house. Significant looks, words full of double meanings, low-voiced conversations….

It doesn't take long for Marina to take her chauffeur, Teodoro, under her wings. They become lovers. But Marina's sister, Luísa, wants her share – after all the good-looking chauffeur is not Marina's property. And Marina's daughter, Ana Paula? Where does she stand in this seduction game?

Every room in the house is wired with cameras and microphones that register everything that is happening. The gardener (!) watches it all. A spy in the house of love? A spy for whom? Renato, Marina's husband, is officially in Europe. Is he? Does he (still) exist? Ana Paula's friends watch also the house and the chauffeur, and so does the police – two former chauffeurs of the family had met death, but there was not sufficient proof to incriminate anyone, and the Alcântara Machado family was powerful and not to be messed with.

Teodoro is warned by the police about the dangerous position he's in, but he doesn't take them seriously enough – how could these women, so nice and pretty, hurt anyone? But there's thunder on the way…. and surprises too!

As you see, the story is good and intricate – but with so many characters, the film "Elite Devassa" loses in depth. The editing is kind of messy and sometimes the film feels jumpy. The soundtrack, in which there's a liberal serving of Pink Floyd and Emerson, Lake & Palmer pieces, is in charge of creating the atmosphere of ambiguity and menace existent in the house.

As it befits a good pornochanchada, in "Elite Devassa" all the important female characters will have their sex scenes ( some of them really good). There's a strange homage to Dario Argento during an interesting 3some sex scene (Aldine Müller showing her all and two men), in which we hear the Deep Red's main theme!

As I said before, the story is not well told and the film feels somewhat uneven, but if you take the film for what it is, namely a b-movie, fastly written and shot – cheap and sometimes clumsy - and at times inventive -, you may enjoy it (sex and thrills, what's not to like?).