# Woman on Top (1999)

### reviewed by
Chad Polenz

    Woman On Top

The first that strikes you about "Woman On Top" is how non-sophisticated it is. It tells a rather simple, easy-to-follow story that includes only a handful of characters instead of a whole ensemble. There's nothing wrong with this technique and it's something I haven't seen used well in a long time. This is a movie that shows you all you need is some heart to tell a good story.

When you think of a "simple" movie what comes to mind? If you're having trouble with that question it's probably because you've been so conditioned by Hollywood to think everything has to be complex, intricate, fast-paced and sometimes confusing to be fun to watch. "Woman On Top" is the antithesis of this mindset - there's no complicated plotlines or torrid love affairs or even a stupid subplot that could turn the tables. It just tells the story of "girl leaves boy, boy tries to get girl back."

"This is the story of love, motion sickness and cooking," explains the narrator over the opening sequences in which our heroine, Isabella, is introduced. She's a beautiful Brazilian woman with a gift for cooking but suffers from the worst case of motion sickness. We're told that Isabella must control her motions and movement so she won't get sick. She has to be behind the wheel when in a car, she has to lead while dancing and she has to be on top during sex. She's the chef at a thriving restaurant owned and managed by her husband Toninho. He understands her motion sickness problem but it humiliates him so he tries to be with another woman to "prove his manhood" but is caught in the act. Isabella flees to San Francisco to be with her transvestite friend Monica (a former resident of her village) and look for a job where she can use her uncanny culinary skills.

I never thought great cooking could be thought of or used as a "super power" like in comic books, but this movie is able to pull off that notion. There's a scene when Isabella arrives in the U.S. and cooks a spicy dish and the aroma is so powerful it knocks out a man in his apartment across the street. The man's name is Cliff, a local television producer looking for a show to fill the 7:30 time slot and asks Isabella if she'd like her own cooking show. This all comes about after a pretty lighthearted and silly routine where all the men in San Francisco follow her around because they're just so attached to her natural aroma ("aura aroma" if you will). She's so charming that when she walks by some wilting flowers they spring up and bloom instantly (a cartoony phallic symbol but it's cute).

Meanwhile Toninho's restaurant is tanking without Isabella, plus the fact that he blasphemes the ocean goddess the village residents worships. This was one aspect of the film I wasn't sure how seriously we're expected to take it. It's hard to believe in this day people would still be part of a pantheist religion. The characters seem genuinely affirmed in their faith and there's even a few sequences in which they go through some rituals and pray to the sea goddess. I have a feeling American audiences are going to find this aspect silly, if not completely absurd and I can understand that. As a critic I find it at least a little interesting because of its originality, although I think the film could have been much better had the characters been more assured of themselves rather than leave everything up to the so-called goddess.

But let's not dwell on this, it's actually a moot point. The majority if the story is concerned with both Cliff and Toninho's attempts to woo Isabella. What's so effective here is that you have a hard time deciding who she should be with. Cliff's a pretty nice guy who respects her and gives her a big break. Toninho is really sorry for what he did and when he says he'll change you believe him. I can't recall any other story in which the cheating guy wanted his woman back and was genuinely sincere in all the promises and romantic gestures he makes to get her back.

The screenplay needs work though. Little happens in terms of plot and story for the second half of the film. Isabella's character isn't fleshed out enough, in fact, she comes off as being a little shallow and not as sympathetic as she should be for a woman in her situation. I smiled every time that mystique she possesses did something to the story or made for a cute joke or gag, but I wanted even more.

What the film lacks in story it makes up with in style. It's a quiet, calm and relaxed film - there's no melodramatic/all-or-nothing scenes or storylines. Everything's taken slowly and passively, the characters mostly wait for things to happen to them, they don't take much action themselves. On the soundtrack is a constant rhythm of the soothing bossa nova music that gives the film an authentic, "organic," atmosphere. Despite the fact much of it takes place in the United States in the present day there's almost no pop culture references, nothing hip thrown in for marketing value. It's a pleasant change of pace.

I'll admit "Woman On Top" is pretty minimal filmmaking, but it doesn't come off as half-assed or amateurish or whatever. If you can take its charming elements at face value it'll make you smile. If you want to be a cynic and point out the flaws then the only reason it'll fail is because you wouldn't allow it to.

    GRADE: B

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