{ "id": "epzq0d0ws0", "slug": "lisbela-and-the-prisoner", "title": "Lisbela and the Prisoner", "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-2003-to-2004", "label": "Comedies of 2003 to 2004", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2003-to-2004" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2003-to-2004.alpha-1-to-l", "label": "Titles 1 to L", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2003-to-2004.alpha-1-to-l" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean · 2001 to 2020: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.latam", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001", "label": "Latin America and the Caribbean · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.latam.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.latam.t2001.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.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Lisbela and the Prisoner (Lisbela e o Prisioneiro) is a 2003 Brazilian romantic comedy directed by Guel Arraes, adapted from Osman Lins's play and starring Selton Mello and Débora Falabella.", "snippet": "Lisbela and the Prisoner (Lisbela e o Prisioneiro) is a 2003 Brazilian romantic comedy directed by Guel Arraes, adapted from Osman Lins's play and starring Selton Mello and Débora Falabella.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.comedy-romance.comedies-of-2003-to-2004.alpha-1-to-l", "markdown": "# Lisbela and the Prisoner\n\n**Lisbela and the Prisoner** (Portuguese: *Lisbela e o Prisioneiro*) is a 2003 Brazilian romantic comedy directed by Guel Arraes, adapted from the play of the same name by [Osman Lins](https://www.edgepedia.org/osman-lins). It stars Selton Mello as Leléu, an itinerant con man and performer, and Débora Falabella as Lisbela, a young woman engaged to be married who dreams of Hollywood movie heroes. The film was released in Brazil on 22 August 2003 and drew 3,164,643 admissions, making it a box office hit of the early post-Retomada period of Brazilian cinema.[1](https://gshow.globo.com/cultura-pop/filmes/globo-filmes/generos/romance/lisbelaeoprisioneiro.ghtml) • [2](https://escholarship.org/content/qt7xr051xk/qt7xr051xk_noSplash_95a0b86a2758da66fc7d654613a7901d.pdf)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | 22 August 2003, Brazil; distributed by Fox Film do Brasil[1](https://gshow.globo.com/cultura-pop/filmes/globo-filmes/generos/romance/lisbelaeoprisioneiro.ghtml) |\n| Director and writers | Directed by Guel Arraes; screenplay by Guel Arraes, Jorge Furtado, and Pedro Cardoso[1](https://gshow.globo.com/cultura-pop/filmes/globo-filmes/generos/romance/lisbelaeoprisioneiro.ghtml) |\n| Source | Adaptation of the play *Lisbela e o Prisioneiro* by Osman Lins, published in 1964[3](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/Lisbela_e_o_Prisioneiro?hl=pt&id=B36637008645AACBMV) • [4](https://profletras.ufrn.br/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Jose-Hilario.pdf) |\n| Lead cast | Selton Mello (Leléu), Débora Falabella (Lisbela), Marco Nanini (Frederico Evandro), Virgínia Cavendish (Inaura), Bruno Garcia (Douglas)[1](https://gshow.globo.com/cultura-pop/filmes/globo-filmes/generos/romance/lisbelaeoprisioneiro.ghtml) |\n| Setting | A small town in the interior of Pernambuco, in the Brazilian Northeast, in the 20th century[5](https://cdcc.usp.br/cineclube/lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro/) • [3](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/Lisbela_e_o_Prisioneiro?hl=pt&id=B36637008645AACBMV) |\n| Box office | 3,164,643 admissions[2](https://escholarship.org/content/qt7xr051xk/qt7xr051xk_noSplash_95a0b86a2758da66fc7d654613a7901d.pdf) |\n| Reception | IMDb rating 7.6/10 from about 8,200 votes; 14 wins and 19 nominations including a Cinema Brazil Grand Prize for Best Actor (Selton Mello, 2004)[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367975/ratings/) • [7](https://www.imdb.com/pt/title/tt0367975/awards/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nLisbela is a young woman in a small town in the interior of [Pernambuco](https://www.edgepedia.org/pernambuco) who loves going to the movies and dreams of the Hollywood leading men in the American films she watches. She is engaged, with her wedding already scheduled, when Leléu arrives in town. Leléu is a charming rogue who moves from town to town performing in shows, taking on characters that include a blind trapeze artist, a fortune teller, a seller of a homemade version of Viagra, and even Jesus Christ in sacred plays. The two fall in love, and Lisbela must choose between the settled life promised to her and the adventurer.[1](https://gshow.globo.com/cultura-pop/filmes/globo-filmes/generos/romance/lisbelaeoprisioneiro.ghtml) • [8](https://www.guiadasemana.com.br/cinema/sinopse/lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro)\n\nA second threat drives the plot: the hitman Frederico Evandro, described in one synopsis as \"the atrocious Frederico Evandro, a hitman from Alagoas,\" pursues Leléu to settle unfinished business, because Leléu had an affair with his wife Inaura in the past. The couple face pressure from family and society as well as their own doubts, before a final reversal full of bravado and humor carries them to their destinies.[5](https://cdcc.usp.br/cineclube/lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro/) • [1](https://gshow.globo.com/cultura-pop/filmes/globo-filmes/generos/romance/lisbelaeoprisioneiro.ghtml)\n\n## Origins in Osman Lins's play\n\nThe film adapts the play *Lisbela e o Prisioneiro* by the Brazilian writer Osman Lins, published in 1964. The play explores the popular culture of the Brazilian Northeast with humor, lyricism, and social critique.[4](https://profletras.ufrn.br/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Jose-Hilario.pdf) • [5](https://cdcc.usp.br/cineclube/lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro/) A scholarly study of the play and the film argues that the adaptation uses regionalism as an instrument to emphasize Brazilian identity in a global context, and highlights the metalanguage running through the work, in which Lisbela's love of cinema feeds back into the film's own storytelling.[9](https://periodicos.ufs.br/Travessias/article/view/9128)\n\nBefore the feature film, the material reached television. On 31 August 1993, the Globo anthology program *Caso Especial* aired an episode titled \"Lisbela e o Prisioneiro,\" written by Guel Arraes, Pedro Cardoso, and Jorge Furtado and directed by Arraes, with Giulia Gam as Lisbela and Diogo Vilela as Leleu. Most of that episode was recorded in the towns of Paudalho and Bom Jardim in Pernambuco.[10](https://memoriaglobo.globo.com/entretenimento/auditorio-e-variedades/caso-especial/noticia/caso-especial-lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro.ghtml) A contemporary report described the path from Lins's text through the Globo special and a stage production to the film.[11](https://imirante.com/entretenimento/sao-luis/amp/2002/10/04/selton-mello-e-debora-falabella-vao-estrelar-lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro)\n\n## Production\n\nThe film was a co-production of Globo Filmes, Natasha Filmes, Fox Film do Brasil, and Estúdios Mega, with João Paulo Diniz as co-producer. It was shot in 35 mm in the [Boa Vista](https://www.edgepedia.org/boa-vista) neighborhood of Recife, the capital of Pernambuco. It was the first feature that Guel Arraes made specifically for cinema; his previous films, *[O Auto da Compadecida](https://www.edgepedia.org/o-auto-da-compadecida)* and *Caramuru – A Invenção do Brasil*, were adapted from miniseries he had directed for Rede Globo.[1](https://gshow.globo.com/cultura-pop/filmes/globo-filmes/generos/romance/lisbelaeoprisioneiro.ghtml) • [3](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/Lisbela_e_o_Prisioneiro?hl=pt&id=B36637008645AACBMV)\n\nProduction records at the national film agency ANCINE show a project approved in June 2002 with a total approved budget of $8,037,109.50 under Brazil's audiovisual incentive laws, of which $4,148,071.93 was raised. The project synopsis stated the intent to continue the success of Arraes's previous feature *O Auto da Compadecida*, which had drawn more than 2 million spectators.[12](https://sad.ancine.gov.br/projetosaudiovisuais/ConsultaProjetosAudiovisuais.do%3Bjsessionid%3DCE77FB265CEC1D5FAEE7980A27CCB027?method=detalharProjeto&numSalic=014550) Production did not go entirely smoothly: a can containing original negatives of the film was lost at the Mega Color laboratory, forcing the crew to reshoot the scenes stored there.[3](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/Lisbela_e_o_Prisioneiro?hl=pt&id=B36637008645AACBMV)\n\n## Style and music\n\nThe film is set in the sertão (arid backcountry interior of northeastern Brazil) of the Brazilian Northeast and draws its characters from that regional setting. The adaptation preserves the spirit of Lins's play while expanding it with visual devices that echo Lisbela's own fascination with cinema, including framings that recall different film genres and editing that dialogues with the protagonist's imagination.[5](https://cdcc.usp.br/cineclube/lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro/) The soundtrack, composed by João Falcão and André Moraes, includes compositions by [Caetano Veloso](https://www.edgepedia.org/caetano-veloso), Zé Ramalho, and the metal band [Sepultura](https://www.edgepedia.org/sepultura).[1](https://gshow.globo.com/cultura-pop/filmes/globo-filmes/generos/romance/lisbelaeoprisioneiro.ghtml) • [5](https://cdcc.usp.br/cineclube/lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro/)\n\n## Reception\n\nThe film drew 3,164,643 spectators in Brazilian theaters, a strong commercial result in the period following the Retomada, the revival of Brazilian film production in the mid-1990s.[2](https://escholarship.org/content/qt7xr051xk/qt7xr051xk_noSplash_95a0b86a2758da66fc7d654613a7901d.pdf) At the 2004 Cinema Brazil Grand Prize, Selton Mello won Best Actor, and the film received nominations for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Bruno Garcia and Tadeu Mello), and Best Supporting Actress (Virgínia Cavendish). Across award bodies the film accumulated 14 wins and 19 nominations, including Prêmio Qualidade wins for Marco Nanini, Débora Falabella, and Guel Arraes.[7](https://www.imdb.com/pt/title/tt0367975/awards/) On IMDb it holds a 7.6/10 rating from about 8,200 users, and Rotten Tomatoes lists an 80% Tomatometer from a single reviewed critic alongside more than 1,000 audience ratings.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367975/ratings/) • [13](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro)\n\nThe film has remained a frequently cited favorite among Brazilian viewers. The University of São Paulo's science popularization center describes it as one of the most beloved Brazilian films of the 2000s, and it is regularly recommended in Brazilian online discussions as a romantic comedy that shows a typical side of the country.[5](https://cdcc.usp.br/cineclube/lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro/)\n\n## Availability\n\nThe film was available on Netflix in Brazil from July to August 2025 and earlier on the Apple TV Store from January 2015 to April 2021; as of the most recent catalog checks it was not available for streaming in Brazil.[14](https://br.justwatch.com/br/filme/lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Lisbela e o Prisioneiro, Globo Filmes (Gshow)](https://gshow.globo.com/cultura-pop/filmes/globo-filmes/generos/romance/lisbelaeoprisioneiro.ghtml)\n2. [The Face of Brazil in Contemporary Brazilian Cinema 1994–2010, Vanessa de Aguiar Fagundes (thesis)](https://escholarship.org/content/qt7xr051xk/qt7xr051xk_noSplash_95a0b86a2758da66fc7d654613a7901d.pdf)\n3. [Lisbela e o Prisioneiro, Google Play Films](https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/Lisbela_e_o_Prisioneiro?hl=pt&id=B36637008645AACBMV)\n4. [Lisbela e o Prisioneiro: breves comentários sobre a obra dramática, UFRN](https://profletras.ufrn.br/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Jose-Hilario.pdf)\n5. [Lisbela e o Prisioneiro, CDCC/USP Cineclube](https://cdcc.usp.br/cineclube/lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro/)\n6. [Lisbela and the Prisoner (2003) – Ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367975/ratings/)\n7. [Lisbela e o Prisioneiro (2003) – Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/pt/title/tt0367975/awards/)\n8. [Lisbela e o Prisioneiro – sinopse, Guia da Semana](https://www.guiadasemana.com.br/cinema/sinopse/lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro)\n9. [Regionalismo e Brasilidade em Lisbela e o Prisioneiro, Travessias Interativas](https://periodicos.ufs.br/Travessias/article/view/9128)\n10. [Caso Especial: Lisbela e o Prisioneiro, Memória Globo](https://memoriaglobo.globo.com/entretenimento/auditorio-e-variedades/caso-especial/noticia/caso-especial-lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro.ghtml)\n11. [Selton Mello e Débora Falabella vão estrelar \"Lisbela e o Prisioneiro\", Imirante (2002)](https://imirante.com/entretenimento/sao-luis/amp/2002/10/04/selton-mello-e-debora-falabella-vao-estrelar-lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro)\n12. [Projeto Lisbela e o Prisioneiro, ANCINE/SALIC 014550](https://sad.ancine.gov.br/projetosaudiovisuais/ConsultaProjetosAudiovisuais.do%3Bjsessionid%3DCE77FB265CEC1D5FAEE7980A27CCB027?method=detalharProjeto&numSalic=014550)\n13. [Lisbela and the Prisoner, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro)\n14. [Lisbela e o Prisioneiro – onde assistir, JustWatch Brasil](https://br.justwatch.com/br/filme/lisbela-e-o-prisioneiro)\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 2003 to 2004 › Titles 1 to L*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 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/lisbela-and-the-prisoner", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/lisbela-and-the-prisoner.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": "\"Lisbela and the Prisoner\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/lisbela-and-the-prisoner. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Lisbela and the Prisoner](https://www.edgepedia.org/lisbela-and-the-prisoner)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/lisbela-and-the-prisoner](https://www.edgepedia.org/lisbela-and-the-prisoner). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Lisbela and the Prisoner\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/lisbela-and-the-prisoner. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Lisbela and the Prisoner is a 2003 Brazilian romantic comedy directed by Guel Arraes, adapted from Osman Lins's play and starring Selton Mello and Débora Falabella." }