The Woman of Everyone

Rogerio Sganzerla's 1969 Brazilian film follows Angela, who steers the men around her according to her own will. Criminals, businessmen and drifters revolve around her; the film frames this not as a love story but as a display of power. The film belongs to the movement known in Brazil as marginal cinema. The narrative is deliberately scattered; the sound is coarsened, the editing jumps and genre conventions are used mockingly. The aim is not to make a well-made film but to refuse the idea of one. Helena Ignez leads and her performance is the centre; the character is neither explained nor excused. Coming during the military dictatorship, this manner was read as a direct political stance. Who it's for: those who like the Brazilian avant-garde and sixties experimental cinema. Who it's not for: viewers expecting narrative coherence; the film breaks it deliberately and carries the period's view of sexuality.