Happily Married
Happily Married is a Brazilian comedy movie made in 2015. The movie is the latest feature film directed by the Brazilian filmmaker Aluizio Abranches who also produced the movie with Ilda Santiago. The screenplay was written by Fernando São Thiago and the two great actors Alexandre Borges and Camila Morgado star in the movie.
| Bem Casados (Happily Married) | |
|---|---|
 Bem Casados (Happily Married) | |
| Directed by | Aluizio Abranches |
| Starring | Alexandre Borges, Camila Morgado, Bianca Comparato, Fernando São Thiago, Christine Fernandes, Luíza Mariani |
| Distributed by | Netflix[1] |
| Country | Brazil |
| Language | Portuguese |
The film is a production of Hare Filmes, founded as Lama Filmes in 2001, that produced The Three Marias (2001) and From Beginning to End (2009). Distributed by Imagem Filmes, the film debuted in Brazilian cinemas at the end of 2015 with great reception from the public and critics.
Plot
Heitor and Alice land a job shooting the wedding of a woman (Bruninha, played by Luíza Mariani) who is marrying the rich son of a Senator and a socialite. It's shown that Heitor has a problem taking too many antidepressants. While shooting the bachelorette party, Heitor meets Penélope, who spots him about to eat an antidepressant that he'd dropped. She steps on it, crushing it to powder, and walks into the party. Heitor accidentally eavesdrops and learns that Penélope is the groom's former lover and that, spurned by the groom's mother, Penélope plans to befriend Bruninha and break up the wedding. Distracted by Penélope, Heitor hands his camera to a waiter (Fernando, played by Fernando São Thiago) and asks him to hold it for him. Fernando takes the camera and starts shooting photos of the bachelorette party.
Penélope convinces Heitor to help her get into the wedding when she reveals that she's pregnant. Meanwhile, desperate for more help after an employee leaves, Heitor hires Fernando and instructs Alice to teach him. Penélope and Heitor meet a former lover of Heitor, Laura, who is stunningly beautiful and financially successful. Penélope learns that Bruninha is actually pregnant and decides to not crash the wedding. Meanwhile, Alice stirs up some young protesters to loudly protest the outdoor wedding in the middle of the wedding ceremony, which is swiftly finished. While hiding, Penélope reveals to Heitor that she isn't pregnant and he storms away. That evening Penélope goes to Heitor's house and falls asleep on his couch after apologizing. She wakes to find that he moved her to his bed and slept on the couch himself. Heitor mentions that he doesn't really know what to do with the video because of the protesters who ruined the main portion of the wedding.
Penélope buys some presents for Heitor, Alice, and Fernando to apologize and talks them into letting her help edit the wedding video. She says that they aren't making the video for the bride and groom but rather for the parents, and that since the Senator is more important than his wife, they should focus on him. Also, they should lie a little in the video. After finishing, Heitor and Alice deliver the video where Bruninha's mothers is astonished to see a cut of Penélope in the video. It's revealed that they managed to tweak the sounds of the protesters to chant, "The Senator is King..." etc. The Senator loves it, and when Bruninha's mother tries to pay Heitor 1/10 of the promised price, the Senator instead gives Heitor an even larger check, which he shares with Alice, Fernando, and Penélope.
Penélope continues working with them and sets up a social media account for Heitor to meet up with Laura. Penélope then secretly messages Laura as Heitor, even going so far as to engage in cyber sex, then invites Laura to meet at a wedding. Laura arrives drunk and tries to have sex with Heitor then rushes off. Heitor follows at a distance and spots her drunkenly punching holes in a condom with a needle. He convinces Penélope to make a scene, then says that she mixed antidepressants with alcohol and that he has to take her home. Alice gets drunk and kisses Fernando then runs off.
That evening, Heitor finds that Penélope has stolen a small memento of every wedding she's been to, including the wedding photograph of his own mother. Heitor is shocked, but says that his love for Penélope is strong enough that he can live with his foible of hers, and that he hasn't taken an antidepressant since he met her. The next morning, Alice wakes up to find that Fernando put her in his bed to sleep it off while he slept on the couch. Alice presents Fernando with a business card with his name on it, welcoming him into the wedding-shooting business, calling it a family, and Heitor gives Penélope a business card with her name on it. They are all shown to be friends with each other as they continue to shoot weddings.
Cast
- Alexandre Borges as Heitor
- Camila Morgado as Penélope
- Bianca Comparato as Alice
- Fernando São Thiago as Fernando
- Christine Fernandes as Laura
- Luíza Mariani as Bruninha
Critical response
Cecilia Barroso stated that the film failed the Bechdel test and that while the film was generally mediocre it should be praised for its attempts to create scenarios and personas outside the Hollywood norm.[2]