Credited cast: | |||
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Joana Castro | ... | Nadia |
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Mariane Cáceres | ... | Francine |
Rafael de Bona | ... | Cristiano | |
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Lua Guerreiro | ... | Tiffany |
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Natália Mazarim | ... | Luziane |
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Chloe Milan | ... | Madalena |
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Lucas Miralles | ... | William |
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Nadja Mitidiero | ... | Cilene |
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Antonio Salvador | ... | Gildo |
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Pâmella Yulle | ... | Bianca |
A broken body in a white dress, lying lifeless in a swaying soya field. Who killed the trans woman Madalena, how and why is never revealed in the Brazilian film Madalena. In his assured debut, director Madiano Marcheti doesn't even reveal how the corpse was discovered. Yet the image of this motionless body lends an extra charge to everything that follows. Marcheti follows three protagonists in turn. They don't know one another, but are all in some way connected through Madalena. Luziane, a club hostess, knocks on her door for money. Wealthy Cristiano inspects the vast expanse of soya fields for his demanding father. Trans woman Bianca and her girlfriends divide Madalena's things between them while reminiscing. Marcheti shot the film in the agrarian region where he grew up, capturing with great visual flair this largely unfilmed rural part of Brazil. A place where big agricultural machinery crawls monster-like across the landscape and the farthest corners are known only to drones. A ... Written by IFFR
Like other current Brazilian films, it traces an interesting view of Brazilian society from its particular stories. The spirit of Madalena flies over the characters, who do not seem to have a direct relationship. But perhaps this lack of connection causes the film to have a certain cohesion problem. As director, there are times when Madiano Marcheti achieves powerful visuals, but the script is not up to the task.