Country: Brazil
Review: After “I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You” from 2009, which achieved great notoriety among the critic, Marcelo Gomes returns but not in the same shape as before, to presents us “Once Upon a Time Was I, Veronica”, a drama set in Recife, Brazil, that tells the story of Veronica (Hermila Guedes), a newly graduated doctor who struggles to find balance in her life. The moving camera with unfocused shots used in the film’s opening scene, depicting several naked bodies in the beach, arouse my curiosity in knowing more about Veronica, but in the end my expectations became defrauded. Living alone with her retired father whose terminal illness is advancing, and becoming affected by the ails of her patients from the hospital where she works, Veronica is passing through a crisis that she would never thought it was possible. Furthermore, her inability to commit herself in a steady relationship is increasing her pain, especially when her father inquires her about that matter. Without knowing what she wants from life, she often sees herself as a patient to be treated, unburdening her pains to an old tape recorder in the same melancholic way. When the film reaches its end, all the issues concerning Veronica’s life remained out of focus, and the urban depression it tried to convey seemed vague. This major problem prevented it from succeed, regardless of any other beneficial aspects that might have been presented.
