As Deusas

Angela (Lilian Lemmertz) goes with her husband Paulo (Mario Benvenuti) to a country house. Angela wants to rest and find some peace of mind – she is mentally unstable… fear, anguish and melancholia. The country house belongs to Ana (Kate Hansen), Angela's psychiatrist. Ana has lent it to Angela – a closer contact with nature may help to soothe her nerves.

The country house and the nature that surrounds it are gorgeous: peaceful woods of pine trees, a river… a natural swimming pool formed by rocks, the lake….. But Angela doesn't get any better. The wind blowing around the trees, the branches shaking, the tree crowns looking downward, seem to be a portent of… A great fear falls on her.

Ana must be called. Ana is young, beautiful, seeming at first glance detached and sure of herself.

So we have Ana, that apparently looks strong, Angela, that on the surface looks weak and dependent. As to Paulo, he seems to be the player in "As Deusas" (The Goddesses), but, in reality, he's the flute, playing to the women's desires.

Ana is not really so self-assured, she is sensitive and fragile - she looks like one of those shy rabbits that we see jumping around during the night. As to Angela, as she slowly recovers, she looks more and more like a wily fox (?). And Paulo follows the call of the wild.

"As Deusas" is a very beautiful film – Nature and women mix effortlessly. Ana and Angela bathe naked in the natural swimming pool, the high pine trees give them strength, whisper them secrets. Goddesses? Witches? And Duprat's soundtrack is perfectly matched to the film. It helps to enhance the strange beauty and the eerie feel of Khouri's images.

Nature is the source of our deepest fears and desires. And when women give themselves to Nature, this may lead to anguish and fear. Nature versus Civilization?

"As Deusas" is not a film for everyone. People that like easy-to-understand action-packed films (bullets & blood, jokes & laughter etc…), should stay away from "As Deusas". But those with a bigger attention span may discover a rich and beautiful film.

Angela (Lilian Lemmertz) leaves São Paulo with her lover Paulo Mendes (Mário Benvenutti) to the cottage of her psychiatrist Dr. Ana (Kate Hansen) in a peaceful place in the countryside following her recommendation. Angela is an anguished and unstable woman that has anxiety and has already tried to commit suicide and is very dependable of Dr. Ana.

The couple arrives in the beautiful place and sooner Angela asks Paulo to call Ana to come to the house and stay with her until the next morning. Ana has a conversation with Paulo and tells that Angela will never heal, only improve her mental condition.

Along the days, Paulo has one night stand with Ana that becomes weaker than Angela, in a weird transference of feelings and emotions.

"As Deusas" is another beautiful and classy film by the Brazilian filmmaker Walter Hugo Khouri, a director and writer visibly influenced by Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni and with a refined musical taste. His characters usually have existential problems and his films always have erotic but never vulgar love scenes and nudity. The stories are thought-provoking and take place in the chaotic São Paulo, the city where he was born and died; women usually are the lead and strong characters; and men are usually flawed and destructive sex-oriented characters.

Lilian Lemmertz and Kate Hansen are incredibly gorgeous and the sequence in the lake is of an awesome good taste. There is a quote in the film, when Angela asks how they would be thirty years after, dead or old, that is ironic since the actress Lilian Lemmertz died of heart attack in 1986.

The music score, with Rogério Duprat, Mozart, Billie Holliday and Duke Ellington, among others, is another plus and gives a touch of class to this film. Last but not the least, Walter Hugo Khouri is recommended to viewers that enjoy low-paced films. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "As Deusas" ("The Goddesses")