Os Normais: O Filme

Rui and Vani are to marry in the same church on the same day, but not to each other. Vani is marrying Sérgio and Rui is marrying Marta. The ceremonies have been booked one after the other and the two meet while waiting. They start talking. The longer they talk the more each hesitates about walking into their own wedding, and the day comes apart entirely. José Alvarenga Jr. directs. Luiz Fernando Guimarães plays Rui and Fernanda Torres plays Vani. The film came out of a television series that ran for a long time in Brazil. The series was about this couple's relationship; the film shows their first meeting, going back to the beginning of the narrative. The humour rests entirely on dialogue; the two talk without pause, criticise each other and agree on nothing. The idea is to mock marriage itself; the film builds the relationship not as a romantic resolution but as two difficult people finding each other. Fernanda Torres is among Brazil's best known actors and her comic timing carries the film. It was a large commercial success in Brazil and a sequel followed. Who it is for: viewers who like Brazilian comedy and films built on dialogue. Who it is not for: the characters are unfamiliar without the series, the humour repeats, and the narrative is confined to a single day.