Me You Them

Or: Love, Portuguese Style. Inspired by a true story, this earthy comedy stars force of nature Regina Cáse as Darlene, a peasant woman who returns after a three-year absence to her impoverished village with one illegitimate son in tow and another on the way. She accepts the marriage proposal of the seventy-ish Osias, who offers her security, but absolutely no help in keeping the house or working the fields. Enter his more easygoing cousin Zezinho, who eventually impregnates Darlene with yet another child, and moves in with the couple. This somewhat idyllic arrangement is further complicated by a young itinerant worker, Ciro, who wants Darlene all to himself. Some steamy encounters aside, Me You Them is not a sex comedy like Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands; rather it percolates along as gracefully as Gilberto Gil's score, successfully capturing the heart of this by-necessity unorthodox living arrangement. Recommended. (K. Lee Benson)