In São Paulo, the greedy Ms. Ismênia (Silvana Lopes) is the owner of a boardinghouse strictly for women. Ismênia only thinks in money and has a crush on the gigolo Roberto. She runs the hostel with rigid rules and helped by the servant Manuela (Liana Duval) that affectionately treats the girls like her nieces and is called by them "aunt". On the day that the troublemaker Lurdinha (Liza Vieira) leaves the boardinghouse to return to the house of her parents, Ismênia receives Geni (Thais Rondon), who is the daughter of her old friend Margarida and has just arrived from São Geraldo expecting to have a better life in São Paulo. Along the days, Geni befriends the other girls and leans a little about their personal dramas and dreams. Clara (Magrit Siebert) has come from Blumenau and is pregnant. The grocery worker Mané (Bentinho) has an unrequited love for her, but she likes him as a friend only. Mirna (Guta) is the samba dancer of a night-club. Teresa is a reckless young woman that dates Davi. Eneida (Helena Ramos) is a traumatized woman that was raped by two black guys and now she can not have sex with her boyfriend Flávio. When Teresa takes Clara to the abortionist Elza (Ruthinéa de Moraes), Clara feels pains and loses blood, finally dying. Meanwhile a burglar breaks in the boardinghouse and steals the money of Ismênia and her guests.
"Pensionato de Mulheres" is an exploitation film with a shallow and lame melodrama and terrible acting. The story has several characters with interesting personal dramas, but with exception of Clara, none of them is well resolved and Mirna, for example, is forgotten. The sub-plot of the burglar is probably the worst since Mirna is tied in the washbasin; the thief steals everyone in the boardinghouse and is arrested by the two policemen later the viewer never knows what happens later. The infatuation of Mané for Clara is not well explained from the beginning. My vote is three.
Title (Brazil): "Pensionato de Mulheres" ("Boardinghouse for Women")
