{ "id": "ephfmv5nng", "slug": "dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands", "title": "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s", "label": "Comedies of the 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1970-1976", "label": "Released 1970 to 1976", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1970-1976" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean · 1946 to 2000: Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "path": [ { "id": "geo.latam", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance", "label": "Comedy and romantic films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos), Bruno Barreto's 1976 Brazilian comedy-fantasy from Jorge Amado's 1966 novel, starring Sônia Braga; Brazil's highest-grossing film for about 35 years.", "snippet": "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos), Bruno Barreto's 1976 Brazilian comedy-fantasy from Jorge Amado's 1966 novel, starring Sônia Braga; Brazil's highest-grossing film for about 35 years.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-the-1970s.yr-1970-1976", "markdown": "# Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands\n\n**Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands** (*Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos*) is a 1976 Brazilian comedy-fantasy directed by Bruno Barreto, adapted from [Jorge Amado](https://www.edgepedia.org/jorge-amado)'s 1966 novel of the same name, about a widow in 1940s [Salvador, Bahia](https://www.edgepedia.org/salvador-bahia), who remarries a respectable pharmacist and then finds her wild first husband returning as a ghost only she can see[1](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D003386&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk) • [2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/). It became the most successful film in Brazilian history on its domestic release and remained Brazil's highest-grossing film for about 35 years[2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | *Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos* |\n| Release | 22 November 1976, São Paulo; shown in Rio de Janeiro from 16 December 1976[1](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D003386&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk) |\n| Director | Bruno Barreto, about 20 years old at the time of release[2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/) |\n| Source | Jorge Amado's 1966 novel *Dona Flor e seus dois maridos*[1](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D003386&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk) |\n| Cast | Sônia Braga (Dona Flor), José Wilker (Vadinho), Mauro Mendonça (Teodoro)[3](https://redeglobo.globo.com/filmes/noticia/2016/07/corujao-apresenta-o-classico-dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos-quinta.html) |\n| Box office | More than ten million spectators; Brazil's top-grossing film for over three decades[4](https://dramaturgiabrasileira.com.br/cinema/dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos/) • [2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/) |\n| Format | 35 mm Eastmancolor, 118 minutes, produced in Rio de Janeiro[1](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D003386&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk) |\n| Recognition | Golden Globe nomination for best foreign film and a BAFTA nomination for Sônia Braga as most promising newcomer[3](https://redeglobo.globo.com/filmes/noticia/2016/07/corujao-apresenta-o-classico-dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos-quinta.html) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story\n\nThe setting is Salvador in the 1940s. During the carnival of 1943, Vadinho, Dona Flor's first husband, drops dead of a heart attack while dancing in the street[1](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D003386&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk). At his wake he is remembered as a rascal, gambler, and gigolo, and by some as a great man[5](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/DonaFlor_presskit.pdf). He was a spendthrift who gambled away the money Flor earned teaching cooking, kept mistresses, and once beat her when she refused to lend him money, yet he was also a devoted lover, and Flor mourns him deeply[1](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D003386&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk).\n\nAfter a period of mourning, Flor marries Dr. Teodoro Madureira, a respectable pharmacist and lover of classical music whom the neighbors consider a perfect man. With him even sex is methodical, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with an occasional \"encore\" on special occasions[4](https://dramaturgiabrasileira.com.br/cinema/dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos/) • [5](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/DonaFlor_presskit.pdf). The stable life bores her, and she keeps sighing for her late husband[3](https://redeglobo.globo.com/filmes/noticia/2016/07/corujao-apresenta-o-classico-dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos-quinta.html). At the couple's first anniversary party, Vadinho's ghost appears naked on her bed and resumes his advances[5](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/DonaFlor_presskit.pdf). Flor consults a *pai-de-santo* (an Afro-Brazilian religious healer) to drive the spirit away, then immediately calls him back, because in the end she wants him to stay[1](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D003386&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk). The film ends with Flor keeping both husbands, the sensual one and the respectable one[6](https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands-as-a-meditation-on-mesticagem-in-brazil-may-2012/).\n\n## Production\n\nThe screenplay was adapted from Amado's novel by Leopoldo Serran and Eduardo Coutinho, with Bruno Barreto also contributing but uncredited; the film was produced by Luiz Carlos Barreto and others, shot in Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, with cinematography by Murilo Salles, editing by Raimundo Higino, and music by [Chico Buarque](https://www.edgepedia.org/chico-buarque) and Francis Hime[4](https://dramaturgiabrasileira.com.br/cinema/dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos/) • [7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos). The song \"O que será,\" one of the biggest hits of Chico Buarque's career, was written and composed especially for the film[2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/).\n\nBarreto was between 20 and 21 years old when the film premiered in November 1976, and it was his third feature[2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/) • [7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos). The film was made during Brazil's military dictatorship, which had ruled since 1964[8](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands). Brazilian federal censorship classified it as forbidden to minors under 18[1](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D003386&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk).\n\n## Reception and box office\n\nThe film set records at home. After three months in theaters it had drawn ten million spectators, and the Cinemateca Brasileira's records place it first among Brazilian films by revenue for the period July 1970 to June 1977, with receipts of Cr$ 65,567,483.10 and 7,591,693 spectators[9](https://redeglobo.globo.com/globoteatro/bis/noticia/2013/09/jorge-amado-classicos-adaptados-para-cinema-televisao-e-teatro.html) • [1](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D003386&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk). It remained Brazil's highest-grossing film for about 35 years and was the highest-grossing Brazilian film worldwide for more than 30 years[2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/).\n\nAbroad it traveled widely. It opened in Paris on 3 August 1977 in ten cinemas with a guaranteed run of at least six weeks, played New York's Paris Theatre in 1978, and drew more than 300,000 viewers in [Montevideo](https://www.edgepedia.org/montevideo) in early 1978, partly from Argentine tourists where the film was then banned at home[1](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D003386&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk) • [10](https://anaforas.fic.edu.uy/jspui/bitstream/123456789/86216/1/OPINAR_n11_1981_01-15.pdf). It received Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations[3](https://redeglobo.globo.com/filmes/noticia/2016/07/corujao-apresenta-o-classico-dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos-quinta.html). The American remake *Kiss Me Goodbye*, directed by Robert Mulligan with [Sally Field](https://www.edgepedia.org/sally-field), James Caan, and [Jeff Bridges](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeff-bridges), was described by one reference work as lackluster by comparison[7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos) • [11](https://quadcinema.com/film/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/).\n\nThe film's success also produced spin-offs in Brazil: a soundtrack album, reprints of Amado's novel, a margarine brand called Margarina Flor launched right after the release, and a 1978 pornochanchada parody, *Seu Florindo e Suas Duas Mulheres*[12](https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/466595/1/1220700.pdf) • [13](https://www.planocritico.com/critica-dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos-1976/).\n\n## Legacy\n\n[Sônia Braga](https://www.edgepedia.org/sonia-braga)'s performance made her an international star; the film is credited with announcing her to the world and consolidating her image as an icon of the Brazilian *mulata* in a vision of national identity built on cultural and racial mixture (*mestiçagem*)[2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/) • [6](https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands-as-a-meditation-on-mesticagem-in-brazil-may-2012/). The historian writing in *Perspectives on History* notes that until recently the film was the highest-grossing Brazilian film of all time, primarily because of its success overseas, and that it shaped how tens of millions of [Brazilians](https://www.edgepedia.org/brazilians) and non-Brazilians imagine Brazil[6](https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands-as-a-meditation-on-mesticagem-in-brazil-may-2012/).\n\nThe story has been adapted repeatedly. Rede Globo broadcast a miniseries version in 1998, starring Giulia Gam, Edson Celulari, and Marco Nanini, set in the Bahia of the 1990s[14](https://memoriaglobo.globo.com/entretenimento/minisseries/dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos/). The novel has also been adapted as a Broadway musical and a Mexican telenovela[11](https://quadcinema.com/film/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/). In 1997, for the film's 20th anniversary, it returned to Rio de Janeiro screens with the scenes cut by censorship in the original version restored[1](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D003386&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk). Film Movement issued a new 4K restoration, which screened at the Quad Cinema in New York in 2021 and at Film at [Lincoln Center](https://www.edgepedia.org/lincoln-center) in 2024[11](https://quadcinema.com/film/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/) • [2](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/).\n\n## References\n\n1. [Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos, Cinemateca Brasileira filmografia](https://bases.cinemateca.org.br/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/iah/?IsisScript=iah%2Fiah.xis&base=FILMOGRAFIA&exprSearch=ID%3D003386&format=detailed.pft&lang=p&nextAction=lnk)\n2. [Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, Film at Lincoln Center](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/)\n3. [Corujão apresenta o clássico 'Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos', Rede Globo](https://redeglobo.globo.com/filmes/noticia/2016/07/corujao-apresenta-o-classico-dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos-quinta.html)\n4. [Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos, Catálogo da Dramaturgia Brasileira](https://dramaturgiabrasileira.com.br/cinema/dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos/)\n5. [Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands press kit, Film Movement](https://filmmovement.com/userFiles/uploads/films/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/DonaFlor_presskit.pdf)\n6. [Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands as a Meditation on Mestiçagem in Brazil, Perspectives on History (AHA), May 2012](https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands-as-a-meditation-on-mesticagem-in-brazil-may-2012/)\n7. [Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/movies/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos)\n8. [Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, MUBI](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands)\n9. [Clássicos de Jorge Amado adaptados para cinema, TV e teatro, Rede Globo](https://redeglobo.globo.com/globoteatro/bis/noticia/2013/09/jorge-amado-classicos-adaptados-para-cinema-televisao-e-teatro.html)\n10. [Elección popular, Opinar n.11, Montevideo, 1981](https://anaforas.fic.edu.uy/jspui/bitstream/123456789/86216/1/OPINAR_n11_1981_01-15.pdf)\n11. [Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, Quad Cinema](https://quadcinema.com/film/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands/)\n12. [Key Aspects of Brazilian Cultural History, University of Southampton eprints](https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/466595/1/1220700.pdf)\n13. [Crítica: Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos (1976), Plano Crítico](https://www.planocritico.com/critica-dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos-1976/)\n14. [Dona Flor e seus Dois Maridos (minissérie), Memória Globo](https://memoriaglobo.globo.com/entretenimento/minisseries/dona-flor-e-seus-dois-maridos/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1970s › Released 1970 to 1976*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands](https://www.edgepedia.org/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands](https://www.edgepedia.org/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/dona-flor-and-her-two-husbands. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands, Bruno Barreto's 1976 Brazilian comedy-fantasy from Jorge Amado's 1966 novel, starring Sônia Braga; Brazil's highest-grossing film for about 35 years." }