The famous Bossa Nova song "The Girl from Ipanema" is transported to the screen by Cinema Novo legends Leon Hirszman, Eduardo Coutinho and
Glauber Rocha (the latter two as screenwriters) who made a coming of age film that follows the lyrics from Vinicius de Moraes and Tom Jobim. It's
bittersweet just like adolescence is when transitioning to adulthood, and like its known lyrics it has a great visual. Appeal when you look at youth
but at a closer look there's sadness and some hurt. The outside beautiful view doesn't match with the inside of struggle and search for
identity - this notion serves for the girl and the movie itself. It's a fine picture but a little challenging on the less attentive viewer.
The title girl is Márcia (Márcia Rodrigues), a middle-class, 17-year-old beauty who likes parties, going to the beach and live an almost
idyllic life. She is admired by everyone from family and friends and, obviously, men of all ages and that's where the little story it has to
show goes for, as she's torn apart between an aphatetic boyfriend (Arduíno Colassanti) and an older married man (Adriano Reys). Yet, it's not
the usual routine of a love scenario, it's more a case of self discovery, attraction and at times the wish of enjoying life and being alone
in between parties and events. It's a very progressive film, for its period, at the time going through many revolutions, wars and sexual
freedom against a conservative background still following its course and conventions.
Besides Márcia, the other main attraction of it comes from the musical scene of its period, with many Bossa Nova, samba and other genres,
with many guest stars playing themselves such as Chico Buarque, Ronnie Von, Vinicius de Moraes; artists and writers like Ziraldo, Fernando
Sabino, director Arnaldo Jabor have cameos; almost as a dream view of Rio cultural society of the period where this girl lives on full
plenitude. It's nice to see something from Cinema Novo that goes for a little change rather than the constant social/political criticisms
(always better films, but there's also progress and criticisms of that youth as well in this film).
Hirszman's made of "The Girl from Ipanema" a film critically divided between a sort of commercial summer movie and an existential drama
that gets softened with the sound of Bossa Nova. It's a little hard to really feel its soul or connect with everything or everyone due to its
jumpy presentation, almost as if channeling Godard but without the politics. It could be viewed as "Masculine-Feminine" but from a female
perspective: both films deal with the differences between men and women, the social/cultural background of 1960's from their respective countries, and the sense of
always looking for something out there, something deeper and meaningful to life. When the relationship between Márcia and the photographer
is formed, it gets a more intellectual tone that previously presented, and it's there one can find a connection with the intimate desires
from the girl, her detachment from everything, and it's there the film finds its heart. There's love going on but there's always something on
the way. If her summer with the boyfriend is boring to watch (except for the artists who come and go, and she gets fascinated with Chico Buarque),
her exchanges with the older man are great to watch (though many will complain about their first meeting, totally reprehensible acts).
I liked the film though it's Hirszman's weakest. For a moment it had everything to fail, but as it went on it got something to show,
a relevant discourse for its period and even today, as we look back and see how much has changed when it comes to relationships, love and
desire, and how one can express their feelings. Trying, failing, and later, If given the chance, succeeding. 6/10.
