Espelho de Carne

The middle-class Álvaro Cardoso (Denis Carvalho) buys an expensive crystal mirror of the infamous brothel "Palácio dos Prazeres de Madame Solange" ("Palace of the Pleasures of Madam Solange") in an auction as a gift for his beautiful wife Helena (Hileana Menezes). They temporarily put the mirror in the master bedroom of their apartment in Barra da Tijuca, and show it to their best friends and neighbors, the couple Ana (Joana Fomm) and Jairo Almeida (Daniel Filho), and also to the divorced neighbor Leila Assunção (Maria Zilda). They are affected by the mirror that magnifies their sex drive, unleashing their erotic fantasies and leading them to erotic games.

On 08 October 2003, I saw "Espelho da Carne" on VHS and in that occasion, I did not like this film. Today I have just seen it again broadcast by "Canal Brasil" and now I have a totally different interpretation of the story. The surrealistic "Espelho da Carne" has an erotic flirtation with Buñuel style, showing tedious and repressed middle-class characters that are somehow affected by a mirror and unleash their sexual desires and fantasies free of their bourgeois moral values. The guilty of Helena with her temptation is metaphorically seen through a man with beard and hoofs that nobody else can see. The best moment is the bold scene between Daniel Filho and Denis Carvalho. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Espelho de Carne" ("Mirror of Flesh")