Customer Reviews

Me You Them

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

How often do you watch a movie in which the main character is a not very attractive woman in her thirties AND she has three men in her life? If you answer pretty frequently, this movie is not for you. I have to admit that the premise of the movie is nothing short of incredibly daring. Yet, it is not something extraordinary.

After watching Central Station and a couple other Brazilian movies, I wonder if poverty is a key ingredient in Brazilian cinema. However, these films are hardly exploitative and pity-inducing. This is especially true with 'Me, You and Them'. Poverty is a strong backdrop to this movie, however, the film does not allow it to overtake the overall tone of the film. Behind the poverty, there is a prevailing sense of life. The richness of life exists whether one is rich or poor. This film does well in presenting this aspect while telling an ordinary story about a life of ordinary woman in perhaps an extraordinary circumstance.

The movie does not employ fancy plotlines. There are not many peaks and valleys within the story and it is pretty consistent throughout. In fact, a person unwilling to take a peek at somebody else's life, as mundane as it might be, would probably fall asleep before the end of the first half of the film. In its simplicity, though, lies a beauty. Much of the beauty lies with the fact that the film is impartial and holds back its verdicts. Darlene's conduct might be seen as immoral, then again looking at her circumstances, couldn't it be justified? The film is unwilling to pass any judgments. Even the ending does not suggest much, avoiding the cause and effects type of storytelling.

The cinematography is nothing short of breathtaking. Like every other aspect of the film, it doesn't seek for the grandeurs. As a result, there is a certain raw, stark quality to the images while still capturing the beauty of arid Brazil.

If you are a lover of international cinema, you do not want to miss this one. You might finish the movie none the wiser, however, you will definitely be 'cinematically richer'.

Brazil has always had a fine movie production, these last years maimed by lack of money, some bad productions and unbelief from the local population - concerning the movies, not the country. Even so, "Cidade de Deus - City of God", "Central station - Central do Brasil" and "Behind the sun - Abril despedaçado", being very good productions, made the brazilian movie industry be seen by the international audiences again as a potential region for good entertainment and excellent movies.

"Me you them - Eu tu eles" follows the settings chosen by Walter Salles in his two masterpieces: the brazilian northeastern region, land of many natural beauties, but also a land of poverty, dryness, abandoned by local authorities and with a lifestyle that has not evolved in more than a hundred years. The main character is Darlene - Regina Casé; the movie tells her story, from being abandoned in her wedding to living with three men - Lima Duarte, Stenio Garcia and Luiz Vasconcelos - and four children in the same house.

For those of you who don't know them, Stenio Garcia and especially Lima Duarte are two of the foremost brazilian actors, with many natural acting resources, having played hundreds of different characters along their careers. Regina Casé is a funny woman with a solid comedy and hostess career. The casting is very good, and they portrait real situations in the screen with astonishing accuracy. The cinematography is very well researched and produced, and many international viewers - as well as brazilian ones, in fact - gasp in wonder at the sight of the dry and barren beauty of the settings.

But if you have seen this movie and think it's a light comedy about a promiscuous woman, you're completely wrong. This is a life-portrait about power, and what you can do to revert a low situation. Darlene cannot openly confront Osias, her first husband. He's powerful, old, respected, has a thundering voice and commands at will. She seduces Zezinho, Osias' cousin, and Ciro, the field-worker, not because she wants to have plain sex, but because that's the way she has to show everyone that, in the end, she will get what she wants, which is to have a good life. That's so true that when she leaves the house, Osias runs after her and tells her to go back.

So, to analyse this movie with such shallowness is, to say the least, temerary. This is not an action flick, it's a deep portrait of lives in a forgotten land, with touches of drama, comedy and love, such as life really is.

Grade 8.2/10

The movie tells us more than simply having kids from one man to another.

It's about Darlene's search for happiness in a dismal place -- where poverty is widespread & the land is barren. It also shows why people create relationships & why they stick to it for various reasons. Initially fooled & disillusioned by 1st love, Darlene wises up to accept a marriage proposal from Osias for security purposes (house & pension fund), in lieu of romance. Being ordered around, she feels further helpless in her seemingly 'impotent' husband & finds love & respect in the arms of Zozhino, Osias' cousin. Things would have been better but passion comes in, in the guise of Ciro, Darlene's co-worker.

Let us just say this film is not so ordinary despite its almost barren setting. All these characters & their children live under one roof, & how they all get along, is something worth watching & analyzing. The seemingly indifferent Osias brings with him a certain tension & what he does at the end is something to ponder about.

I haven't seen many Brazilian films, but every one I've seen really blows apart--really challenges--your morals. I claim that I can watch this with an open mind, in order to objectively judge the outcome, the impact to each of their lives. Does each character find meaning in his/her life?

One aspect of the plot that is interesting, is Darlene the main character bears each man in her life a son, except for her legal husband. This has some fullfilling effect on these men. Her husband on the other hand, emasculated in a sense, in the end does what he can to preserve some vestige of his manhood and status.

I love movies that take me somewhere. This movie is beautifully shot, yielding many scenes of its stark beauty, but it by no means romanticizes. The setting is of a vast dry land. It is hot. They live in mud houses (Of course this appealed to me in look and practicality.). Everyone sleeps in hammocks.

The people, though very poor and unglamorous--to me this made them genuinely beautiful--have a rough life. Darlene, the main character must work, even when pregnant harvesting in the cane fields.

Delicious film with great photography, wonderfull soundtrack by Gilberto Gil and excelent performs of Casé, Lima Duarte and Stenio Garcia, try it!!!!!!!

Darlene de Lima is jilted at the church with her infant son, so she gets on a truck and leaves the poor village of her mother. Three years later she returns, marries a prosperous old godger, and settles down to support him as he relaxes, endlessly, with his old radio in his hammock. Unwittingly, he never gives her any attention, so one by one, she finds men who adore her free, sensual spirit and move in with Darlene and her husband. This is a fun film based on a real person in Brazil. An unexpected little gem.

I never write raves. But this is a very underestimated film. The screenplay is spare and polished. The actors - sublime. Regina Case is amazing in this role. Should have won all kinds of awards. Completely absorbing. Best film I've seen in a long time.

No violence, restrained sex - real life, with somebody you are really rooting for.

For those who know a little about the wonderful history of cinema in Brazil, this movie arrives with a taste of caipirinha and a very powerful way to show that even in the desert, it is possible to bear fruit. Darlene is a contrast to the environment she lives in. She bears children easily, all natural births, when outside all you see is abandonment, poverty, and the desert. She is also a trademark of brazilian woman: strong, determined, beautiful, creative, and most of all, human.

Walter Sales outdid himself this time, and I am very happy, as a brazilian myself, to see our cinema reaching the grounds of major nations in the world, like America, as a way for others to learn a bit more about other cultures.

This movie is funny and very interesting. It can be a little slow for the "now generation". Each child that is born looks nothing like her husband. The husbands female cousin has smart remarks with each arrival -- priceless. Very real world rural Brazil. I read other reviews focusing on birth control etc., but I found that I was looking forward to the next child to see how the child would look and the reaction around the arrival. If you take life too seriously and trying to look for hidden meanings/agendas -Not for you - Just enjoy it for what it is.....
Life goes on..........

I love this movie and i received it in good shape, however the shipping was awful, I paid for expedited shipping and it still arrived late/ It took a 1 1/2 weeks to arrive.