"Besame Mucho" has such a stellar cast for a Brazilian film of the 1980's that I had to give it a try without knowing much about it and you'll probably feel the
same excitment as I did when you see the names: Antonio Fagundes, Christiane Torloni, José Wilker, Glória Pires, Giulia Gam and Paulo Betti. Amazing, right? The kings and
queen of soap operas at the time and also great movie stars as well. Watching the movie is a different and unsual experience since hardly anything from their talents is
so fascinating and interesting to see, though one cannot say they were wasted. They just didn't had any quality material to work with in this movie, based on Mario Prata's
play and with the great Hector Babenco as producer. It's not a hurtful film neither a complete waste of time, but it sure feels like a weak ploy destined to trick audiences
since qualities are hard to be found.
The movie tells the problematic story of two couples (Fagundes and Torloni, years before playing an amazing loving couple in the soap opera "A Viagem", and
Wilker and Glória) and their friendship through a course of two decades, from the teenage years of the 1960's to the adulthood of the 1980's, facing difficulties and
questionings as they mature and grow with a ever-changing social and political backgrounds. Like Harold Pinter's play "Betrayal" (turned into an excellent film in 1983)
the story is told backwards so we meet both couples into adulthood and move all the way back when they were youngsters in 1964 before the military coup, and the movie
alternates every two years in between problems and happiness in their marriage and sex life.
Interesting way to see the story and how the unsual progress of events in shown in a reverse way but quite ineffective in what it has to say or show. The majority of
dialogues don't allow the characters to be seen in a mature way, they argue with themselves mostly about matters of sex, fantasies and unfulfilled desires rather than
finding ways to connect themselves with emotions or sharing a life together (sure, sex is important but it's not the ultimate key for a loving and healthy relationship).
Their conversations about feelings and connection with each other are too weak and simple-minded with questionings about having an orgasm during childbirth (but Fagundes
reply to that thought by Torloni was hilarious) or challenging each other with political questionings like Glória and Wilker couple do.
I couldn't connect with those characters despite the many humored situations and attempts to humor since there's no balancing of good and honest romance, for both
couples, neither the one formed by Giulia and Betti, which is a couple that disintegrates without much of a reasoning if seeing the story in the linear format since
they're hot and horny for each other and then it just died (but it's a valid point made where just one factor can't keep a couple united). The main focus of the
relationships is permeated with talks about sex and some little action right from the beginning where a couple creates a fantasy of a bandit trying to take advantage of a
nun but the man fails at the right time. The lines aren't funny, and most of them come across as vulgar, cheap and it's basic teenage talk even when they're grown up.
Does the movie worth of your time? Perhaps. I won't complain about the acting, everybody has their own unique charm while playing those lost and confused characters
and even when they play the teenage versions they're acceptable and slightly believable despite being in their late 30's/early 40's. It doesn't feel like a deceitful act,
and it's funny. Main problem is the script that feels and is empty, imature, with hardly a valuable thought to share about relationships, intimacy and closeness, it might
have two or three good thoughts about the value of friendship - and I like that since the quartet never changed to infidelity. It doesn't feel like a grown up person
wrote the script, it was like teenager having memories about the times he lived and then fantasizing about his future years: there's plenty of imagination but they fail
to be concrete or good enough as a reality. 4/10.
