Customer Reviews

Woman on Top [VHS]

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Penelope Cruz sizzles in her role as Isabella, a charming and seductive chef in a small Brazilian seaside resort called Bahia. She marries Toninho Oliveira (played by Murilo Benecio) who is a initially a waiter and later the owner of the restaurant where she wows the customers with her spicey and delicious original meals. They marry and are ecstatically happy, except there is one issue which complicates their life: Isabella suffers from motion sickness. Unfortunately, her husband Toninho makes one *fatal* mistake due to his frustration based on this issue. When Isabella discovers Toninho's fatal mistake, Isabella chooses to embark on a journey. First, she pays homage to the goddess of the sea in Bahia before leaving on her trip to the USA. She had received many offers of jobs as a chef in the USA and chose to try out her luck in San Francsico ...

There, Isabella looks up her childhood friend, Monica, who lives an alternate lifestyle which provides some comical scenes in the film. Other interesting features are the flashbacks to their childhood when Isabella first developed her cooking skills and discovered her talent. In San Francisco, Isabella loses out on a fantastic opportunity to work in 5 star restaurant but amazingly this loss turns out to be a major advantage. She becomes the favorite chef at a cooking school and is discovered by a young television producer. He is enticed not only by Isabella's beauty but also by her delicious food. He sells the network on creating a cooking program where Isabella is the star ... naturally she is an instant success.

Meanwhile, Toninho is very lonely in Bahia. He is remorseful for his past behavior and makes some offerings to the goddess of the sea with the hope of reuniting with his wife. He flies to San Francisco and discovers that on a hugely popular TV cooking program , his wife is the main hot and spicey dish on display. He pursues her with highly creative efforts but she resists. In one nearly successful attempt to win her back, he provides the back up music for her cooking program. As executives often do, just when everything is going extremely well, they make some inane decision, in this case it is to change Isabella's television persona for the worse. The film is worth viewing to see the extreme and extraordinary results which alter her program - all with the goal of appealing to a broader spectrum of the audience.

This is quite an entertaining adventure where a major dilemma is resolved. One of the reasons the film is so effective is that Cliff, the local TV producer becomes a rival for Isabella's affections, just when Toninho is doing everything in his power to win back his wife for himself. This film is pure fantasy and pure entertainment. It is a pleasure to watch Penelope Cruz who sparkles in her role. Murilo Benicio is also a joy to view but his character is less well developed which is unusual given his popularity in Brazil and his highly skilled acting ability. Mark Feurerstein plays a believable TV producer. Harrold Perrineau, Jr is an amusing cross-dressing drag queen. Overall, the film is quite funny and finishes on a most positive and satisfying note. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]

This is beautiful and sensual movie filled with Brazilian culture and folklore that is a feast to your senses. You can almost feel the burn of the chili pepper and smell the fragrance of the aromatic coffee that makes the San Francisco men follow Isabella in the streets. The movie is colorful and mystical and a large part of its charm is due to the amazing Penelope Cruz (an actress I learned to admire not only for her beauty but also for her acting talent after watching her in the Spanish movie "Sin Noticias de Dios") who totally controls the screen.
Isabella (Penelope Cruz) has had the motion sickness since she was a little girl. She feels bad in every kind of motion, unless she controls the movement - this is also true regarding sex; she has to lead. Isabella is a cook in her husband's restaurant. She does well and cooks delicious foods, but somehow feels neglected - as she is left back in the kitchen. Tonino (Murilo Benicio), her husband, feels he is not a man enough being "led" by his wife. And so, one night Isabella catches him in the hands of another woman, and runs away to San Francisco to try and build a new life for herself. She hopes to try and relive her dreams of fame which she threw away when she married Tonino. Isabella heads to San Francisco to live with her old friend Monica, a transvestite.
In San Francisco Isabella gains fame by having her own cooking show. She is also courted by Cliff (Mark Feuerstein), the producer of the show, who is attracted to the Brazilian magic. Meanwhile back in Bahaia Tonino is facing a lot of trouble. Having cursed Yimanza, the goddess of the sea, in a burst of anger, bad luck knocks on his door. All the fisherman are upset at him as the fish do not come to their nets. Customers stay away from his restaurant and he cannot live without Isabella. So, Tonino heads to San Francisco to try and get Isabella back.
The movie is a combination of reality and myth. The gods, so the movie begins, have given Isabella incredible beauty. The gods, and especially Yimanza, the goddess of the sea, control the love and faith of our heroes and respond to their gifts and wishes. Human beings are controlled by faith and there are those who belong to each other. On the other hand, this is also a movie that has something to say about feminine strength and its power, in spite of gods and men. Isabella has to struggle but she is able to get her own way. Between the lines the movie also has a lot of criticisem about the American and the American televeision culture and maybe its lack of warmth vs. the Brazilian culture. There are a lot of cooking scenes where Isabella explains to her viewers how to cook this or that sauce while intertwining this with her life philosophy (always share the dish with someone you love). The men watching her show sit groaning against the screen and I must admit - she is a delicious sight.
Penelope Cruz is able to portray sensuality and innocence at the same time. She is the one who makes this movie what it is. The other actors are a little pale next to her, except the incredible Monica (Harold Perrineau Jr.) who sometimes manages to steal the show. All in all, this is a fun, entertaining movie.

"Woman on Top" was one of the best movies I've ever seen. The bedroom love scenes were some of the most beautifully portrayed and sensual that I've ever seen without all of the nudity and vulgarity usually portrayed in American made movies. The scenes of the beautiful,Bahia,Brazil especially it's Peulorinho district where Isabella and Toninho live are also very beautifully portrayed and no place in the world is more lovely than the Peulorinho at night. Having travelled to Bahia I can testify that Bahia definitely has a magical feel and visitors to Bahia often remark,"Bahia Enfeitica" which means "Bahia casts its spell on you" and well it might given the number of African deities called Orixas that are worshipped in Bahia. Yemanja is often referred to as the "Mother of the Orixas" and offerings are frequently made to Her by Brazilians to incur Her blessings especially on New Year's Eve where everyone in Brazil goes to the beach at night with their offerings in hand all dressed in white. This movie is far from a fairytale as it beautifully portrays how the Orixas are very much appreciated in the daily lives of Brazilians.The directors of this movie were thoughtful enough to engage well-known Candomble priestesses Mae Lucia and Mae Stella to get an accurate portrayal of Candodmble and it's rituals. I thought that Penelope Cruz and Murilo Benicio did a wonderful job as a married couple and they have a wonderful chemistry together on the screen and although both have their flaws as individuals they learn by combining their strengths how to create the perfect dish. I highly recommend this DVD to people especially those that have an interest in Bahia and Candomble or just want to view a beautifully,portrayed love story. The soundtrack is also a wonderful addition to the movie. Yemanja be praised!!!

WOMAN ON TOP is one of those films that was made, publicized and viewed as pastiche and because of its honesty as a simple romantic comedy, it rates higher than many of the over the top and overproduced competitors. The film is colorful, filled with wonderful Bossa Nova music, and has enough eye candy to almost make you forget the main dishes!

Isabella Oliveira (Penélope Cruz) lives in Bahia, Brazil totally in love with Toninho Oliveira (Murilo Benício) where the two have a restaurant featuring Isabella's passionate cooking and Toninho's macho front man role. Isabella has a problem: motion sickness - she cannot fly, ride in a car, or assume the bottom position during sex or she becomes violently ill (it seems that the sea goddess compensated her problem by making her an inimitable chef). All is well until Toninho has a brief affair that drives the crushed Isabella to move to San Francisco alone despite her love for Toninho. There she moves in with her old friend Monica from Bahia (Harold Perrineau as a superbly enacted crossed dressed drag queen) and begins her unsuccessful search for a job. In order to overcome her longing for Toninho and regain her culinary skills she makes a pact with the sea goddess, forsaking ever loving Toninho again. Eventually Isabella lands a TV show on Passionate Cooking when desperate producer Cliff (Mark Feuerstein) gets a whiff of her talent. She is an immediate success. Meanwhile Toninho, unable to endure life in Bahia without Isabella, flies to San Francisco and begins a series of Bossa Nova serenades to win her back. Cliff places Toninho on Isabella's show as background music and the ratings soar. But it is the ultimately the conflict resolution between Isabella and Toninho that brings the story to its expected end.

The story may be light and the script may be pedestrian, but the direction and camera work suffuse this film with Latin American magical realism and that keeps it lighthearted and fun. Cruz is terrific, Perrineau is the true star of the show displaying a sophisticated and sensitive acting skill that is very special, and Murilo Benício is not only a hunk and eye candy but also a fine singer and a warm actor who deserves a lot of attention. Story three, stars four. Have fun with this one! Grady Harp, March 06

To truly appreciate this film, you need to take it with a grain of salt. It's meant to be a fable, not a step-by-step realistic coming of age film of a woman, her cheating husband, her transvestite friend and a fish-hording goddess to the luscious bossa nova beat.

This is a fun film, sumptuous and seductive in it's own right without taking itself too seriously. Penelope Cruz does a great job as Isabella in her first American production. It's hard not to be charmed by her.

Other reviewers have outlined the plot, such as it is. A majority of this movie consists of close up shots of Penelope Cruz which can be duplicated by simply staring at her photograph. The plot is time worn. Although Ms. Cruz's character is supposed to be one of a confident woman who is intelligent enough to do quite well on her own, her choices in men indicate no such intelligence and would suggest all that women want in life is to be in the arms of a man. I was still waiting for the movie to develop into something when the credits began to roll. Don't waste your money. If you really want to see it, rent before you buy.

I have hesitated on seeing this movie, because I haven't really been impressed by Penelope's work, even though I have seen her previously in All About My Mother, Open Your Eyes, and Vanilla Sky. Finally, this movie made me take her more seriously as a good actress with more than just beauty, and that she's no longer trying to increase her fame by dating high-profile actors. She's actually very pleasing and enjoyable to watch in this romantic comedy about love, cheating, cooking, new life/career and reconcilation.

Isabella(Penelope Cruz) is married to Toninho(Murilo Benicio), a musician/restaurant owner in a small town in Northern Brazil. She's the best chef and her cooking attracts a ton of business for the restaurant, and even job offers from America. One problem occurs when her "on top" sexual position made her dissatisfied husband to cheat on her, she decides to take off and headed for San Francesico for a new life.

She reunited with her long time friend Monica(Harold Perrinear,Jr.), a fierce and funny drag queen and just got out of jail. She had to use some kind of black magic ritual in order to eliminate all her love for her ex-husband so that she could move on. She took a job as a cooking teacher, and one day she encountered a TV show producer named Cliff(Mark Feuodtein) who was looking for a host for a new cooking show, and she got the job. Her style, sophiscation, and sex appeal instantly turned the show into a sensation. Just when she thought she could give love a try again when Cliff pursued her, her ex arrived at the scene and accidently became involved as background performer in the show. Now she's confused about her position in life.....

Harold Perrineau, Jr. did a great job as Monica, and he also did narration for this film. He is quite a comic relief. At first, I thought his role could have been played Rupaul, but then a less famous actor is probably more appropiate.

This is a good date movie or chick flick even, and I think it's so far the best Penelope Cruz film to be seen by non-Spanish audiences.

This film was a real letdown. With a star as charismatic and charming as Penelope Cruz it's hard to make a truly unbearable movie. But director Fina Torres has just done that. The story about a woman who flees to San Francisco to escape from her miserable life in Brazil, this movie was full of possibilities.But it fails on every level. The romance is cliche. The comedy is so very predictable. And the movie tries so very hard to be quirky..but it ends up being annoying.

This is a story about food, motion sickness and love-- but not necessarily in that order. "Woman On Top," directed by Fina Torres, stars the alluring Penelope Cruz as Isabella Oliveira, a young woman endowed with both a gift and a curse; her gift (besides being beautiful) is that she is an absolute magician in the kitchen, having learned the culinary secrets of exotic dishes at an early age in her home town of Bahia, Brazil. Her curse is that she has always been susceptible to motion sickness, a condition which at the most inopportune times has had a significantly debilitating effect on her. As with her cooking, however, Isabella learned early on how to master the situation. To overcome it, she learned, she simply has to be the one in control-- in a car, she has to drive; on the dance floor, she has to lead; she takes the stairs instead of the elevator; and even while making love, she has to take charge. And, as is often the case with one who aggressively works to overcome a difficulty, it's made her strong. Without even thinking about it, Isabella has learned not only how to transcend her problem, but how to control her own life, as well, which is good-- up to a point. But as she one day discovers, it can also lead to certain complications; complications that have to do with matters of the heart. With love.

One day, at a restaurant near the beach in Bahia, Isabella meets a young man, Toninho (Murilo Benicio), who happens to own the restaurant. When he sees Isabella, it's love at first sight. He is swept away by her beauty, and when he discovers what she can do in the kitchen! well-- he simply does not rest until she consents to be his wife. And it's a marriage made in heaven. Almost. They love each other passionately, and with Isabella in the kitchen, the restaurant begins to thrive. But while Toninho is out in front with the customers taking bows, Isabella is hidden away doing the cooking. Which is fine with her; they have each other, and they are doing what they love. Still, there is the matter of Isabella having to be the "one on top" all the time, and even though Toninho understands why, it begins to subtly eat away at his ego. After all, a man must be a man, no matter what-- and when finally, though he loves Isabella deeply, he feels he must give into his "urge" and do something to reaffirm his masculinity, problems begin to arise. And that's when Isabella discovers how mixed the blessings of her life are, and realizes that she, too, has some reaffirming to do. So she makes a decision and sets a course that ultimately changes her life, as well as Toninho's, and soon she is many miles from home, settled in San Francisco, where she is about to use her expertise to tantalize the palates of an unsuspecting public.

With more than a touch of spice, Torres serves up a touching, and often amusing love story that is every bit as pleasurable as the many delightful dishes Isabella concocts with the touch of her magic ladle. It's an engagingly sensuous and romantic film, with implied sensual overtones that makes it a banquet rather than just a one course meal. Torres, you could say, is quite a chef in her own right. She tastefully plays up and maintains the romance throughout the film, and her use of that as her main ingredient is what makes her story and her film so appealing. That and the fact that she has some delicious characters with which to work, beginning with the wonderful Penelope Cruz.

Cruz is simply marvelous in this role, parlaying her natural beauty and charisma into an endearing, memorable character. She uses all of her charms to great effect, while establishing a character whose moral tenets are never in question. Isabella's dignity is never compromised, and the passion she exhibits in all areas of her life have a sense of refinement that makes her accessible and someone you can readily embrace without qualification. Cruz is quite simply a class act, and the fact that she could create a character of such singular, sensuous virtue is a tribute to her abilities as an actor.

Benicio pulls it off well, also, creating a likable cad in Toninho. He's a macho guy, but when it comes right down to it, he's not afraid to let you see his weak side, and Benicio shades him perfectly with that sense of humanity that makes him real and someone to whom you can relate. By showing you the boy that still resides within the man, you can at least understand him somewhat, instead of just wanting to whack him upside the head to make him wake up. It's a good performance, and he and Cruz definitely have some chemistry together.

The supporting cast includes Harold Perrineau Jr. (Monica), Mark Feuerstein (Cliff), John de Lancie (Alex), Anne Ramsay (TV Director) and Ana Gasteyer (Claudia). This is a romantic comedy that should appeal to a wide audience, as Torres has successfully navigated the waters of the genre, keeping "Woman On Top" afloat while avoiding any stereotypes or tired cliches. It's a refreshingly romantic film that steers clear of anything close to being "sappy," without ever letting you lose track of what it's really all about, which is food, love and motion sickness. And not necessarily in that order.

Self-described "straight" men (who make up a startling number of movie critics) love to disparage a movie like this by calling it a "chick flick." "No car chases, no explosions, no video-game special effects, no grisly deaths, so could it REALLY speak to me?" In fact, "Woman on Top" is a "woman's picture" on many levels: directed by a woman (Fina Torres), written by a woman (Vera Blasi), and starring gorgeous Penelope Cruz, who takes close-ups like a '40s screen goddess. One might wonder, would it not have been more appropriate to cast a Brasilian in the role of Isabella? Any objections about casting Ms. Cruz as a Brasileira are soon overcome as you watch her performance. This is a sensitively-written, beautifully-photographed, perfectly-scored, and exquisitely-acted film about one woman's search for her locus of control and comfort. Isabella Oliveira (Cruz) searches for her centre of control geographically (Bahia, Brasil and San Francisco, USA) as well as emotionally (exerting control over her destiny, achieving success in her career, choosing her best romantic prospect). The soul-searching the character undergoes is completely believable, thanks in no small part to Cruz' natural, understated performance. Director Torres also gets wonderful performances from Murilo Benicio (who plays the impossibly handsome Toninho), Harold Perrineau Jr (as the outrageous Monica), and Mark Feuerstein (as smarmy but completely adorable television producer Cliff). Benicio finds the right combination of physical presence and wounded Latin pride to make us cheer for his character, but we end up also caring for each of the main characters. It's another variation of the classic fish-out-of-water shtick, or perhaps more like siri-out-of-moqueca (in keeping with the Bahian theme). Bahia is portrayed as exotic and sensual, but San Francisco is also exciting and full of opportunities. The notion of the "exotic" is toyed with here, as the Big Hollywood Phonies want to make the Isabella personage less "ethnic," which is the galvanizing moment for the character's identity on many levels. She changes, as she must, but remains fundamentally "herself," just more in control of her life. Upon her arrival in America, Isabella is asked by San Francisco's one cabdriver (or so it seems), "What planet are you from?" Isabella's reply: "Brasil." This film is rich in irreverent humour, gorgeous music, believable dialogue, and cute little touches (the Asian 411 operator, the Caribbean cabbie, the caprices of Iemanjah, etc). The ending feels so right, so natural, it makes the entire experience of viewing this film all the more rewarding. I would highly recommend this film to lovers of warm-hearted romantic comedies, or even just good "chick flicks." An absorbing and worthwhile film.