Todas as Mulheres do Mundo

The very first movie directed by Domingos de Oliveira is a romantic comedy, a good one. His late-years movies had his indistinguishable mark, talking a lot about feelings and relationships in a quite auto-biographical way (Domingos Oliveira was a kind of Brazilian Woody Allen, but not Jeweish, much more often drunken, and changing New York for Rio de Janeiro), making films with much more (smart) dialogs than action, using a lot of friends' homes as sets due to always stretch budget. Well, this film diverges from most of these traits, with a lot of outdoor footage, many different sets and the director is not one of the actors. However, the kind of dialogs, fast talking by leading role character and plot involving complicated love affairs already showed the signature style Doningos de Oliveira would develop in his quite authoral cinema. Besides that, watching Paulo Jisé and Leila Diniz, besides Flavio Miggliacio and Joana Fonn, is something nice.

Because of Covid-19 I have been watching far more movies than normal and revisiting obscure classics. After watching Harrod Blank's short, I decided to return to more absurd comedies. This was on my list too and I have to say, the movie has aged fairly well. The film has an immense charm from start to finish excluding the title intro and the quotes that follow. I remember it baffled me in my first watch and has been stuck in my mind. The intro was not what I expected from, and it immediately became one of my favourites and remains so. Medieval gore arts, animation and much more. You have to watch it to believe it.

'Todas as Mulheres do Mundo' is definitely trapped with rom-com cliches but the way it unfolds along at a leisurely pace is wholesome and funny. It doesn't aim for being more on the emotional side but with more realistic and relatable character development. In addition to the mastery of production, I loved the costumes of the leads in a way resonating with the fashion of that time. On the acting side all the characters and artist involved have done a great job, but the one who stands out the most is Leila Diniz. She is wonderful and one can't help but fall in love with her through the course of the film.

What else can be said about this film other than it truly is a gem with good pace and some very clever direction. So many great moments, which I won't spoil for anyone who hasn't seen the film. The writing, cast and story are all phenomenal. I'd recommend this to the fans of Jean-Claude Guiguet, Paul Vecchiali, Walter Hugo Khouri, Eric Rohmer, Rudolf Thome, Rikiya Imaizumi, Doris Dörrie, Jim Jarmusch, Takis Kanellopoulos, Sylvia Chang, Yann Gonzalez, Hal Hartley, Jacques Rivette, Atom Egoyan, Alain Guiraudie, Serge Bozon , Wisit Sasanatieng and Silvio Soldini.

Talented play writer, director and actor, Domingos de Oliveira has made a few films since this one and still doing, always dealing with his main theme, love and its implications. Considered by some viewers the Brazilian Woody Allen, no other Brazilian film director has this funny, inventive and sensitive look at day-by-day romantic comedy situations as Domingos does.

"Todas as Mulheres do Mundo" is an ode to women. The story of a man with many flirts, suddenly caught by love. Since then, he is going to face the delights of monogamy and suffer all the pain and doubts that love itself demands, in order to survive and grow stronger, with humor, sensibility and great actors (highlighting the performances of Paulo José, Leila Diniz and Flávio Migliaccio). Domingos and his crew can extract each light of beauty that Leila Diniz reflects. This is a true masterpiece of the "Cinema Novo" era, an icon of Brazilian cinema.