Ruy Guerra, one of the leading proponents of the cinema nóvo movement in Brazil and himself responsible for one of the more successful reworkings of a Gabriel García Márquez short story, Erendira, has here collaborated with the master to make perhaps the most beautiful film of his long and illustrious career. Working from a mere anecdote in García Márquez's latest novel, Love in the Time of Cholera, Guerra spins a tale of obsessive love between the wealthy Orestes, owner of a rum factory, and the beautiful pigeon fancier, Fulvia, played with dark, brooding sensuality by Claudia Ohana, the lead in both Erendira and Malandro. Orestes is a childish gadfly, used to getting his own way, but he never becomes passionately involved in any of the many affairs which occupy his life. When he meets the enigmatic Fulvia, his head begins to spin with the passion that she releases. Guerra's direction captures both the life and colors of nineteenth century Brazil and the intense, interior sensuality of his couple's passion with an unerring sense of accuracy. Tautly understated, this is a film to be relished by lovers of García Márquez and admirers of refined cinema. Piers Handling, Toronto