Business Women’s Club by Anna Muellert

At Cesaria’s multi-million dollar club, she raises tigers on a whim. When Jungo finds out, he asks Candinho, who is not coincidentally Cesaria’s powerful granddaughter, to show him the animals. But they discover that three of the tigers have escaped from the cage and are on the loose.

At this point the film’s comedic tone begins to change to drama, leaning towards absurdist comedy, surrealism and even thriller. Anyone who has seen “Durval Discos” (which took seven quiquitos in Gramado 2002) will identify the points of contact between the two films and understand that to deal with uncomfortable topics as they are on a daily basis, tragicomedy can be the best resource.

For Anna, there are two possible readings for The Business Women’s Club.: “The first is the inversion. Just seeing bodies upside down is embarrassing. The other is: ‘If women were in power, and the power is money because money is sexist, would they act the same way? Would they be so offensive?’”

Some read it as absurdist comedy, others prefer a semi-horror tone. Some were dissatisfied with the outcome, which led the three tigers to take a magnificent revenge on the pride of man who wants to control even nature. But the truth is that Anna makes the “Business Women’s Club” her largest, most dangerous and most difficult project.

The filming challenges, which include special effects, animals such as parrots, snakes, frogs, eagles, a puppy crucial to the story’s development, horses and even a capybara, are evident on screen. But they deserve every moment. Ana is not breaking the glass ceiling, but the glass ceiling of Brazilian society, which is built on machismo, racism, slavery, classism, and hypocrisy above all else.

The director reveals the eternal stage of “everything is fine” on the roof (the main stage of the club meeting) while everything is on fire and the jaguar literally drinks water in the kitchen, basement and underground in this social game. Echoes of works such as “O Rei da Vela” by Oswald de Andrade, “Macunaíma” by Mário de Andrade, “Pindorama” by Arnaldo Gabor, among others, can be heard loud and clear.