Helena Solberg Cineclub presents THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS

The 2024 cultural calendar of the Embassy of Brazil in London kicks off with the screening of THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS, an erotic drama based on a game of seduction in an era of disposable love and emotional apathy, freely adapted from Clarice Lispector’s novel of the same name.

The film will be followed by an online Q&A with the director Marcela Lordy, the producer Deborah Osborn, and the screenwriter Josefina Trotta, mediated by Nadia Kerecuk, convenor of the Brazilian Bilingual Book Club.

THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS | O LIVRO DOS PRAZERES
Dir. Marcela Lordy | 2021 | Brazil, Argentina | 100 min. | Portuguese with English subtitles.

Lóri is a free spirited and attractive elementary school teacher whose life lacks foothold.

She chases shallow physical connection, taking charge of her own desires and needs – willfully avoiding lasting intimacy, despite never truly being fulfilled by random flings. When Ulises, an arrogant yet sympathetic philosophy lecturer and self-described egocentric, suddenly enters the equation, it sparks an unexpected change in her.

An ‘odyssey into erotic self-discovery and existential desire’ (Teo Bugbee, The New York Times), the film is a part prickly, part sensual emotional journey. Lóri’s deep desire for independence and mistrust of attachment, while also craving emotional connection, forms the central dilemma. The result is a painfully recognisable and deeply compelling portrait of being a woman nowadays.

The film premiered at the São Paulo International Film Festival and went on to receive Special Mention and Best Performance (Simone Spoladore) prizes at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema – BAFICI. It was also shown at film events such as the Vancouver International Film Festival, Oslo Film Festival, International Film Festival of India, and MOOOV Film Festival in Belgium, among many others.

THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS is loosely based on the 1969 novel AN APPRENTICESHIP OR THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS (UMA APRENDIZAGEM OU O LIVRO DOS PRAZERES) by Clarice Lispector – one of Brazil’s most acclaimed and influential writers – and brings it into the present day. This screening is in partnership with the Brazilian Bilingual Book Club (https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/embaixada-londres/sections/cultural-section/book-club), the December 2023 edition of which read and discussed Lispector’s novel.