Will loving be giving each other one’s loneliness? This question almost closes the screening of the book of pleasuresshort novel adaptation by Clarice the Inspector, one of the greatest writers that Brazil has produced. And if Lispector herself has defined her style as “non-style”, Marcela Lordy’s film has the task of reinforcing that simplicity or complexity in the narrative, following Lori, the protagonist and who speaks the words of the first paragraph.
Lori (Simone Spoladore) is a lonely woman who lives in a state of almost permanent melancholy. She fails to connect with others and she goes from one lover to another as eagerly and as quickly as she can open and close the door of her apartment in Rio de Janeiro.
It’s not just any property. Huge, overlooking the sea, she would be part of a family heirloom, as Lori hasn’t seen her father for many years and has an ambiguous relationship with her brother David. She allows him to visit and bring women, but she doesn’t want to get involved.
Maybe that’s the term you define about what the book of pleasures -at least the film- decides to focus.
Unlimited
But Lori is also a character who knows no bounds, both in private and professional life. An elementary school teacher, the director of the institute lifts her weight because she talks to the kids about existentialism, with parental concern, of course.
It is this: not getting involved and not finding herself is what leads her to so many adventures with people, with men and with her own life.
But Ulisses (Argentinean Javier Drolas, from party walls, good intentions and who accompanied Natalia Oreiro in Gilda, I don’t regret this love) to her life and everything changes, because she continues with the bewilderments. Perhaps Ulises, a porteño who has lived in Brazil for years, says he can wait for her as long as he serves. Will he do it? What will Lory do?
The sex scenes, which are more about sex than love, a grandmother would say, are strong but careful. Anyone who comes to see the film, a Brazilian-Argentine co-production looking for sex, may leave the theater a little disappointed.
And there is water, omnipresent, both in the sea and in the bowl where it takes care of a small fish brought to it by a student it takes care of. That the fish dies is more than a metaphor.
“The Book of Pleasures”
Good
Drama. Brazil/Argentina, 2020. Original title: “O Livro dos Prazeres”98′, SAM 13 R. Of: Marcellus Lordy. With: Simone Spoladore, Javier Drolas, Felipe Rocha, Gabriel Stauffer, Martha Nowill. Rooms: Showcase Norcenter, Cinépolis Recoleta and Avellaneda, Hoyts Abasto and Unicenter.
Source: Clarin
