In the suburb of Sampaio, the lower class Zulmira (Fernanda Montenegro) visits a fortune teller Madame Crisálida (Wanda Lacerda) that advises her to be careful with the blonde woman. When her unemployed husband Toninho (Ivan Cândido) returns home from the pool at the bar, she tells him the words of Madame Crisálida and guesses that the "blondie" might be her neighbor and cousin Glorinha. However, in their boring life, soccer is the relief valve of the mediocre Toninho that is actually worried about the final soccer game of the "Carioca" (from Rio de Janeiro) Championship where his team Vasco will play against Fluminense and does not pay much attention in his wife. Zulmira develops a morbid fixation and plots her own burial, with unforgettable fancy obsequies to make Glorinha envies her. She stays in the rain and dies of pneumonia, but first she forces Toninho to promise her in the deathbed the dreamt funeral. He explains that he does not have enough money, and she asks him to seek out João Guimarães Pimentel (Paulo Gracindo) that would pay for the ceremony. When Toninho finds Guimarães, the wealthy man discloses his relationship with Zulmira to her husband.
"A Falecida" is a feature based on a play of the dramaturge Nelson Rodrigues where his morbid and tragic world is disclosed through the life and death of a suburban wife that has an empty, boring and mediocre existence in limbo with her alienated husband in a poor house in a hamlet. Zulmira's greatest concern is with her neighbors and not with herself and her greatest desire is to have a fancy funeral as a kind of self-punishment for her love affair. This tragic-comic situation, with a worthless woman together with scum like Guimarães or the undertaker Timbira are elements of the brilliant work of Nelson Rodrigues. The restored copy released on DVD by the Brazilian Distributor Videofilmes is a must-see and a fantastic chance to see Fernanda Montenegro, who is the best Brazilian actress, in her debut in the cinema. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "A Falecida" ("The Deceased")
