Love, the art of cooking blend in 'Woman on Top'

By Joko E.H. Anwar

Woman on Top (*** out of four stars); Drama/Romance/Comedy, 90 minutes; Starring Penelope Cruz, Murilo Benicio, Harold Perrineau Jr., Mark Feuerstein; Directed by Fina Torres; A Fox Searchlight Pictures Presentation

JAKARTA (JP): Watching Woman on Top is like receiving a beautiful postcard from your a very special friend who is away on an exotic journey and wants to share his or her magical experience with you.

Your friend's story is so earnestly and descriptively written that you want to read it over and over again while enjoying the picture on the postcard. Your friend might also have spiced up the story to draw you deeper into the fantasy.

Woman on Top is easy on the eyes and ears but audiences are unlikely to leave the theater feeling empty.

The story is highly predictable, so it will not be brain- wracking. Some might even find it dumb, but the film is never pretentious, and to its credit, never takes itself too seriously.

Once you allow yourself to be immersed in the film's magical realm (as in 1992's Like Water for Chocolate), you will be rewarded with a refreshing scent of spices, beautiful colors and steamy romance. This is the kind of film you will want to see after watching a series of heavy action movies. Light, but not insultingly thoughtless.

In the intoxicatingly exotic Brazilian state of Bahia, lives a woman called Isabella (Penelope Cruz) -- a spiritualist and believer of the sea goddess Yemanja from whom she always asks for help. She also cooks like magic. When she cooks, the aromas will be carried from her pot by the wind, enchanting anyone who smells it.

With her cooking artistry, she dreams of traveling around the world. One thing that prevents her from doing so is her acute motion sickness. To overcome this, she has to be in control of the motion. For example, if she has to be in a car, she must be the one driving. However, since she cannot control an elevator, she has to take the stairs.

Isabella falls in love with a macho and handsome Brazilian named Toninho (Murilo Benicio), who runs a seafood restaurant. They get married. Toninho's restaurant becomes immensely popular for its food. She cooks and he gets all the credit.

In the meantime, Isabella gets job offers from around the world, but she cannot leave her dashingly romantic and much-loved husband.

They make love passionately (chili pepper will never taste the same again after you watch this movie), but Isabella always has to be on top if she does not want to throw up in the middle of their lovemaking. Eventually, Toninho cannot take it anymore. One night, he sneaks into another woman's room and has sex with her, just to be on top.

Isabella catches Toninho in the act. "I'm a man!" he cries. "I have to be on top sometimes!"

In a rage, Isabella forces herself to endure a painful flight to San Francisco, hoping to be able to work in a restaurant which had earlier offered her a position as a chef.

When in Sans Francisco, she moves in with her best friend Monica Jones (Perrineau), a transvestite, and gets herself a job in a restaurant where she lectures about food.

But she still cannot get over her husband. She takes Monica's advise and seeks the help a shaman to make her forget Toninho by using voodoo. However, the shaman warns her that she will never be able to love Toninho again. She agrees to go through it.

Isabella soon becomes an overnight sensation after her cooking wins her a show on a local television station.

Assisted by Monica, she bewitches her viewers' imagination every time she turns simple ingredients into exotic dishes.

Toninho, however, wants her back. After following her trail to San Francisco and meeting her, he faces the fact that Isabella is no longer in love with him as she has accepted the love of the show's dull but well-intentioned producer, Cliff (Feuerstein).

Meanwhile, national TV network executives, who buy the shows to be broadcast nationally, begin to interfere with the production -- threatening the show's originality and Isabella's magic touch with food. They want to dress her up like a boring TV host's female assistant, replace real peppers with Tabasco, and get rid off Monica.

Toninho, on the other hand, is determined not to go back home without Isabella.

Those who are not familiar with the sensational Cruz will see her charm radiate on the screen, contrary to stories that she is just another much-hyped boring beauty.

The 27-year-old actress, who is also called by many as the "Spanish Enchantress", is both lovable and charismatic. The film's director smartly uses her appeal and never lets her become an object of exploitation.

Viewers are even unlikely to feel their intelligence insulted by scenes, such as, when a group of men, enchanted by her beauty, follow her while she walks down the street. In another scene, a rose is blossoms after a drop of her sweat falls on it.

Cruz's 1992 Oscar-winning film Belle Epoque was released here last year but was criminally butchered by the censor board. She also starred in the highly-acclaimed Pedro Almodovar's All About My Mother (1999).

Harold Perrineau Jr., who plays Cruz's cross-dressing sidekick Monica, succeeds in making his character more than just another stereotyped drag queen. His endearing and funny performance steals almost every scene he is in. Perrineau was last seen here as Mercutio in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet.

Director Torres exaggerates almost every scene, but somehow makes them funny and lively.

The film is also filled with the popular bossa nova and samba tunes. If you think films should be thought-provoking and mind- boggling all the time, you will likely be put off by this film. But if you want to have a relaxing hour in the theater, without falling asleep, this may just be the perfect movie for you.