Woman on Top
Woman on Top
Sizzling Penelope Cruz plays a chef who leaves her restaurateur hubby in Brazil after she finds him with another woman. Taking up residence in San Francisco with a drag queen friend, Cruz finds success with her own cooking show, then makes a pact with Yemanja, goddess of the sea, that has every man she meets falling in love with her. Mark Feuerstein and Murilo Benecio also star. 93 min. Standard and Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital Surround, French Dolby Digital Surround; Subtitles: English, Spanish; theatrical trailer; spot; recipe booklet.Woman on Top pretends to be your standard fish-out-of-water romantic comedy laced with touches of magic realism. When you break it down and look at i
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Hot, Sizzling Chef on “Top” in Every Way,
Penelope Cruz sizzles in her role as Isabella, a charming and seductive chef in a small Brazilian seaside resort called Bahia. She marries Toninho Oliveira (played by Murilo Benecio) who is a initially a waiter and later the owner of the restaurant where she wows the customers with her spicey and delicious original meals. They marry and are ecstatically happy, except there is one issue which complicates their life: Isabella suffers from motion sickness. Unfortunately, her husband Toninho makes one *fatal* mistake due to his frustration based on this issue. When Isabella discovers Toninho’s fatal mistake, Isabella chooses to embark on a journey. First, she pays homage to the goddess of the sea in Bahia before leaving on her trip to the USA. She had received many offers of jobs as a chef in the USA and chose to try out her luck in San Francsico …
There, Isabella looks up her childhood friend, Monica, who lives an alternate lifestyle which provides some comical scenes in the film. Other interesting features are the flashbacks to their childhood when Isabella first developed her cooking skills and discovered her talent. In San Francisco, Isabella loses out on a fantastic opportunity to work in 5 star restaurant but amazingly this loss turns out to be a major advantage. She becomes the favorite chef at a cooking school and is discovered by a young television producer. He is enticed not only by Isabella’s beauty but also by her delicious food. He sells the network on creating a cooking program where Isabella is the star … naturally she is an instant success.
Meanwhile, Toninho is very lonely in Bahia. He is remorseful for his past behavior and makes some offerings to the goddess of the sea with the hope of reuniting with his wife. He flies to San Francisco and discovers that on a hugely popular TV cooking program , his wife is the main hot and spicey dish on display. He pursues her with highly creative efforts but she resists. In one nearly successful attempt to win her back, he provides the back up music for her cooking program. As executives often do, just when everything is going extremely well, they make some inane decision, in this case it is to change Isabella’s television persona for the worse. The film is worth viewing to see the extreme and extraordinary results which alter her program – all with the goal of appealing to a broader spectrum of the audience.
This is quite an entertaining adventure where a major dilemma is resolved. One of the reasons the film is so effective is that Cliff, the local TV producer becomes a rival for Isabella’s affections, just when Toninho is doing everything in his power to win back his wife for himself. This film is pure fantasy and pure entertainment. It is a pleasure to watch Penelope Cruz who sparkles in her role. Murilo Benicio is also a joy to view but his character is less well developed which is unusual given his popularity in Brazil and his highly skilled acting ability. Mark Feurerstein plays a believable TV producer. Harrold Perrineau, Jr is an amusing cross-dressing drag queen. Overall, the film is quite funny and finishes on a most positive and satisfying note. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]
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|A pleasure to watch. Totally entertaining.,
This is beautiful and sensual movie filled with Brazilian culture and folklore that is a feast to your senses. You can almost feel the burn of the chili pepper and smell the fragrance of the aromatic coffee that makes the San Francisco men follow Isabella in the streets. The movie is colorful and mystical and a large part of its charm is due to the amazing Penelope Cruz (an actress I learned to admire not only for her beauty but also for her acting talent after watching her in the Spanish movie “Sin Noticias de Dios”) who totally controls the screen.
Isabella (Penelope Cruz) has had the motion sickness since she was a little girl. She feels bad in every kind of motion, unless she controls the movement – this is also true regarding sex; she has to lead. Isabella is a cook in her husband’s restaurant. She does well and cooks delicious foods, but somehow feels neglected – as she is left back in the kitchen. Tonino (Murilo Benicio), her husband, feels he is not a man enough being “led” by his wife. And so, one night Isabella catches him in the hands of another woman, and runs away to San Francisco to try and build a new life for herself. She hopes to try and relive her dreams of fame which she threw away when she married Tonino. Isabella heads to San Francisco to live with her old friend Monica, a transvestite.
In San Francisco Isabella gains fame by having her own cooking show. She is also courted by Cliff (Mark Feuerstein), the producer of the show, who is attracted to the Brazilian magic. Meanwhile back in Bahaia Tonino is facing a lot of trouble. Having cursed Yimanza, the goddess of the sea, in a burst of anger, bad luck knocks on his door. All the fisherman are upset at him as the fish do not come to their nets. Customers stay away from his restaurant and he cannot live without Isabella. So, Tonino heads to San Francisco to try and get Isabella back.
The movie is a combination of reality and myth. The gods, so the movie begins, have given Isabella incredible beauty. The gods, and especially Yimanza, the goddess of the sea, control the love and faith of our heroes and respond to their gifts and wishes. Human beings are controlled by faith and there are those who belong to each other. On the other hand, this is also a movie that has something to say about feminine strength and its power, in spite of gods and men. Isabella has to struggle but she is able to get her own way. Between the lines the movie also has a lot of criticisem about the American and the American televeision culture and maybe its lack of warmth vs. the Brazilian culture. There are a lot of cooking scenes where Isabella explains to her viewers how to cook this or that sauce while intertwining this with her life philosophy (always share the dish with someone you love). The men watching her show sit groaning against the screen and I must admit – she is a delicious sight.
Penelope Cruz is able to portray sensuality and innocence at the same time. She is the one who makes this movie what it is. The other actors are a little pale next to her, except the incredible Monica (Harold Perrineau Jr.) who sometimes manages to steal the show. All in all, this is a fun, entertaining movie.
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|One Of The Best Movies Ever!!!,
“Woman on Top” was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. The bedroom love scenes were some of the most beautifully portrayed and sensual that I’ve ever seen without all of the nudity and vulgarity usually portrayed in American made movies. The scenes of the beautiful,Bahia,Brazil especially it’s Peulorinho district where Isabella and Toninho live are also very beautifully portrayed and no place in the world is more lovely than the Peulorinho at night. Having travelled to Bahia I can testify that Bahia definitely has a magical feel and visitors to Bahia often remark,”Bahia Enfeitica” which means “Bahia casts its spell on you” and well it might given the number of African deities called Orixas that are worshipped in Bahia. Yemanja is often referred to as the “Mother of the Orixas” and offerings are frequently made to Her by Brazilians to incur Her blessings especially on New Year’s Eve where everyone in Brazil goes to the beach at night with their offerings in hand all dressed in white. This movie is far from a fairytale as it beautifully portrays how the Orixas are very much appreciated in the daily lives of Brazilians.The directors of this movie were thoughtful enough to engage well-known Candomble priestesses Mae Lucia and Mae Stella to get an accurate portrayal of Candodmble and it’s rituals. I thought that Penelope Cruz and Murilo Benicio did a wonderful job as a married couple and they have a wonderful chemistry together on the screen and although both have their flaws as individuals they learn by combining their strengths how to create the perfect dish. I highly recommend this DVD to people especially those that have an interest in Bahia and Candomble or just want to view a beautifully,portrayed love story. The soundtrack is also a wonderful addition to the movie. Yemanja be praised!!!
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