La vie peu ordinaire de Dona Linhares

This film portrays the life of the Brazilian poor in the arid interior, and that life is hard. You take your pleasures where and when you can. Regina Case gives a vivid performance as the polyamorous wife-lover; she is no more "ugly" than Frances McDormand, Maggie Smith or a host of other actresses who don't do Vogue covers. Gilberto Gil's music is very evocative, it's like an actor in the story.

Finally, I want to praise Lima Duarte's performance as the husband; he knows life is passing him by and death is approaching, so he doesn't let Darlene's sexual habits bother him. It is a very expressive star turn in the Philippe Noiret tradition.

This film provides a new meditation on female attractiveness, beauty, and sexuality. It provides new situations, and new reactions to situations. It provides new meditations on happiness, and on the roads to happiness. There are even little, possibly unintended, meditations on the slavery inherent in the cash economy. I'll watch this film at least a few more times, and get something new out of it every time.

One of the delights of watching foreign films is that distance, like time, provides a filtering effect. Only the very best of the foreign cinema makes its way to our shores. Therefore, it is not surprising that the cinematography, the score, the acting are all first class. But even by that elevated standard this film is special.

On the face of it, the simple plot of the film would not seem enough to sustain the audience's interest. Darlene, an imposing young woman with an illegitimate child, returns to her home in the outback of the Bahia region of Brazil. There she marries an older man, has his child, then takes up with two other men and has children with them as well, all of them living together on the edge of poverty. The powerful acting, a hauntingly beautiful visual style, a landscape both harsh and lovely all make this a cinematic treasure in which one's attention never flags for a moment. It is a film which continues to resonate weeks after seeing it. I look forward to seeing it again and again.

Wonderful film. There really is much to love about this film, but the it's strength begins with the realistic, multidimensional performances by Regina Case, Lima Duarte and Stenio Garcia. For every spoken word, their body language and expressions convey countless unspokes desires, emotions, and conflicts. The script is well grounded with very little in the way of broad farcical humor or weepy melodrama. By pushing realism in the dialogue, direction and performances, the characters are rendered with more complexity. More humanity. They aren't reduced to being the romanticized 'noble poor' ciphers present in many films about poor people. Here, there are no saints or devils, only achingly real people doing their best to strike an agreeable accord with life. Even the cinematography serves this goal. This film is packed with beautiful imagery, but at the same time, it never devolves into being a travelogue. Instead the arrid terrain, populated with knarled cashew trees and swept with dust provides an understanding of how the characters find themselves amidst such an arrangement. Some have said this film is a disservice to women, because Darlene has to use sex to gain what she wants and needs. This I think is a pathetic attempt to further an agenda without even really considering the merit of the film itself. Darlene is a woman without many options. In order to fashion a semblance of a happy life, she uses guile, intelligence, charm and strategy to manipulate her fate. Sex just happens to be a tool at her disposal, and in Ciro, she finds a lover who even provides for her sexual needs. She sounds like a strong, self-realized woman to me. Were her character born middle class, I have no doubt she'd go far. Understanding this bit of social commentary only adds to my respect for this film because like other elements present, it's never heavy handed. Overall, I give 'Me You Them' 9 of 10. Of the films I saw in 2001, it ranks only after 'the Circle' as my favorite. Touching, funny, sublimely well balanced and intelligent, I'm hoping Andrucha Waddington makes more films of this caliber..............

A superb film from Brazil. There are movies about love triangles. This is more of a hexagon. Some of the professional critics seem to read more into the story than there is. Basicly, Darlene is an aging manipulative bitch with a great body. She has an earthiness about her that arouses the man in any man. The acting of the principals is brilliant. You don't have to understand Portugese (or read the subtitles)to understand the deep and conflicting emotions. Some regard the film as a comedy. Not at all (although it has its moments of humour.) It's a tremendously well done film about a lady who likes a roll in the hay (or, in this case, sugar bush.) My only complaint is the rather slushy ending. The icing on this spicy cake is the magnificent cinematography...great sweeping vistas and big skies...intriguing camera angles...imaginative framing...carefully painted light. If you like foreign films, this is a must!