Me You Them
Andrucha Waddington’s 2000 Brazilian film, Me You Them, is a careful piece of sex comedy that works because of the obvious compassion Waddington has for the characters. In Hollywood’s hands, the project would look completely different and, I daresay, completely unnatural. As it is, there’s something to the flow of Me You Them that is utterly intoxicating.
Instead of simply placing characters into a situation and letting them pantomime their way through it, Waddington’s picture develops the situation slowly and with care. It is set in a poor, arid village in Brazil with a shrinking water supply and lots of red dirt. Poverty is the norm, yet the people get by on their passions and on hitting up the local bar for dancing, drinking, and more drinking.
Regina Casé is Darlene. She is average-looking, which is comforting and accessible, and endlessly determined. As Roger Ebert puts it, “She has big teeth, she wipes her hands on her dress, she can work in the fields all day, and if she takes you to her bed, you’ll have your work cut out for you.” Establishing her character is vital, as Darlene really has everything to do with how and why this little story happens in the first place.
We first meet Darlene when she’s expecting a child and set to marry the father. In her wedding dress, she’s left at the “altar” with no husband. Darlene returns and finds her grandmother dead. She also discovers Osias (Lima Duarte) offering her a proposition. If she marries him, she can move in with him. Darlene has nowhere else to stay and is with child, so she takes him up on it and our story begins.
Now, Osias is a bit of a lazy ass. He lays in his hammock all day long, fiddling and fussing with his radio. He assigns Darlene to care for the goats and to go to work in the fields, so she does. A second child arrives, darker than expected, and there is some unspoken suspicion about paternity. Nevermind. Soon another man drifts into the picture. He is Zezinho (Stenio Garcia) and he is Osias’ cousin. He is kind, so Darlene takes to him instantly and they have an affair.
Zezinho moves in and cooks for Osias and sleeps with Darlene. Osias may or may not be aware of this, but nothing seems to disturb his hammock’d existence. Another baby arrives and it’s Zezinho’s and again there is some unspoken suspicion about paternity. Nevermind. Soon enough another man (Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos) drifts into the picture, moves in, and so forth.
Apparently this weird sex romp is based on a true story. It could be based on a thousand true stories. The beauty in it comes as Darlene is fully in control of these three men in her own way, owing in part to the subtle attractiveness she possesses and in part to her natural mothering instincts. She is a mother and a lover and a worker and a drinker and even a fighter to these three men. She owns them.
There are swirling complexities to the relationships here, but Waddington keeps things remarkably pure and simple. There are currents of polyamorous living and even a thread of positivity towards polygamy, but who the hell really cares? The end result is ultimate happiness and, without spoiling the picture totally, these characters reach it on their own terms with their own desires for control, sex, and food met entirely.
The movie is marvellously acted, beautifully shot, and tenderly paced. It isn’t a typical farce; it isn’t guided by music or whirling camera shots to evoke emotion. The purity comes from the characters and the situation, as it should. Me You Them is a nice surprise and Casé, a television presenter akin to Oprah in Brazil, is fun to watch as the dominant female.
