A ponderous tale that doesn\'t go beneath the surface. <br>

A ponderous tale that doesn\'t go beneath the surface.

Darlene, Regina Case, is heavily pregnant. She heads for the city after being stood up at the altar and doesn`t return to her home village for three years, just in time to attend her mother`s funeral. With minimal prospects she accepts a marriage offer from Osias, Lima Duarte, who`s much older and we discover, very stuck in his ways. He doesn`t even seem interested in her sexually, which is why when a chance encounter leads to a further pregnancy he doesn`t seem to mind very much that the baby is black. His cousin Zezinho, Stenio Garcia, is infatuated with Darlene and moves in to Osias` house to help with the cooking. Soon baby number three arrives, rather surprisingly with Zezinho`s blue eyes. And the final ingredient is supplied by itinerant worker Ciro, Luis Carlos Vasconcelos, whom Darlene meets in the cane fields...This rather ponderously told tale doesn`t bother to delve too far into this situation, it prefers to just present events in a pragmatic fashion that makes the whole thing rather dull. Regina Case has an interesting presence but we`re given little access to her character, she`s stoicism personified. On the plus side the region of Bahia is given attractive wide-screen treatment but the film as a whole didn`t get me very excited at all.Comments From David StrattonThis is lots of fun. A bit similar to that famous Brazilian classic, Dona Flor And Her Two Husbands, it centres on a lovely performance from Regina Case as the prodigious Darlene, but there`s also fine cinematography, a terrific music track, and a cheerfully immoral storyline.