| Abstract: | The purpose of this essay is to examine the contradictions between narrative and filmic technique that result in conflicting messages in Karim Aïnouz's film O Céu de Suely. Although the film demonstrates the hardship and isolation that drive its northeastern Brazilian protagonist to raffle herself in order to buy a bus ticket out of town, it simultaneously sensualizes and encourages the audience to take pleasure in the female body by displaying it erotically. I call this tension between message and form incomplete resistance. The questions of how prostitution relates to patriarchy and the success of the protagonist's scheme in selling sex while refusing the label of prostitute are central to this analysis. |
