Treason (1998) Poster

(1998)

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9/10
Three Amoral Tales of One of the Best Brazilian Writers
claudio_carvalho3 November 2004
'Betrayal' is an adaptation to the screen of three amoral tales of Nelson Rodrigues, one of the best Brazilian contemporaneous writers.

1st Episode: 'O Primeiro Pecado' ('The First Sin') Director: Arthur Fontes (02 Nov 2004)

Mário (Pedro Cardoso) meets the married woman Irene (Fernanda Torres) in the bus station, and a few days later, he invites her to go to the apartment of his friend Jordão (Tonico Pereira) for having sex. Revelations and lies are disclosed in the end. My vote is eight.

2nd Episode: 'Diabólica' ('Evil Woman') Director: Claudio Torres (02 Nov 2004)

On the rainy day of his wedding with Dagmar (Fernanda Torres), Geraldo (Daniel Dantas) goes to a precinct with the dead body of his bride's sister Alicinha (Ludmila Dayer). While waiting for the family, Geraldo tells Marshal Argemiro Santos (Francisco Cuoco) a sordid and sick story. Further dirty revelations are disclosed in the end. My vote is ten.

3rd Episode: 'Cachorro!' ('Dog!', literally, but meaning 'Bastard!') Director: José Henrique Fonseca (02 Nov 2004)

A husband (Alexandre Borges) goes to a cheap hotel room, where he finds his best friend (José Henrique Fonseca) having sex with his wife (Drica Moraes). The story has a tragic end. My vote is seven.

I am a great fan of Nelson Rodrigues and I used to read his column on the newspaper (although many of his texts were about his soccer team 'Fluminense', and mine is his opponent 'Flamengo') and some of his books. Many screenplays in the Brazilian cinema or TV series or theater plays are adaptation of his stories. His corrupted and amoral view of the values of the society and religion has always fascinated me. 'Betrayal' is performed by some of the best Brazilian actors and actresses, leaded by Fernanda Montenegro and Fernanda Torres. My global vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): 'Traição' ('Betrayal')
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9/10
The Montenegro/Torres family shows 3 takes on betrayal, Rio-style
gonz3024 May 1999
TRAICAO means betrayal in Portuguese, and the theme is explored in three different quirky stories, all set in Rio. Betrayal, Rio, and the Montenegro/Torres family (the mother/daughter Fernandas play the most memorable roles, though they are but two of the Torres' in the production) are thus the common thread in the second feature presented in competition here at the Third Brazilian Film Festival. Billed as a 1998 production, BETRAYAL, among its stellar cast (in addition to the Fernanda s), showcases recognizable actors from Brazil's last two bids for the Foreign Language Film Oscar. The film's vignettes are all in different decades (depicted in what can best be described as "Rio Gothic "style), but thoroughly "Cariocan" (from Rio)in any case. Whether you know about Rio or not, all three cases of BETRAYAL are deliciously, pervertedly comical and thoroughly entertaining. Surely coming to a "festival near you" or to video soon, see it. I think, most people, familiar with Brazil and with the Fernanda's or not, will enjoy BETRAYAL (Traicao).
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9/10
Three stories linked by the worst thing Human beings can do each other: Betray!
mario_c11 April 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This film is a compilation of three short stories that have one mainly thing in common: Betrayal! Although each story is separated from the next one, I think the sequence which they are ordered is very important, because, in my opinion, the second one is emotionally deeper than the first, and the third deeper than the second one. There is a tension growing from story to story, so I think the last one is the most complex and the one where drama, humour (there's a corrosive humour in all film, but in this particular story, it's just excellent!) and betrayed feelings mix better, in spite of not being the most polemic…

The first is called "The first sin" and relates us a story of a woman who betrays her husband with the first guy that appears to her on the street! "It doesn't matter if he's tall, short, fat, thin, black or white"! But the guy she chose this time was just a poor little devil who even needed to have lessons from an older friend to "do" that woman… This story is funny, but the plot isn't very deep.

The second story, called "Diabolic", is much more complex and polemic, I would say…It's about a guy who is engaged and is going to marry just in a few days, but he has been consecutively attempted by the "diabolic sister" of his fiancée…One little detail, the girl is just 13 years old! As you can see by this, the plot is really dramatic and in a drama it ends…the girl turns dead, the guy went to jail…

The last one is the best to me! It's called "cachorro" (a similar translation to English would be "bastard") and tells us a story of a guy who catch his girlfriend and his best friend in bed, in a hotel room. He has a gun, he says he will kill both of them, but will he really do that?... This story has details of excellent dark humour and the relation between its characters is also very good. In some particular moments it made me remind "Four rooms" (Quentin Tarantino)…

Globally, I believe that's a very good movie, one that makes you think about feelings, love and relationships, but in a deep, dramatic and sometimes sarcastic way.
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