Sofia e a Educação Sexual

Synopsis

Filmed in 1973, without state support and on a minimal budget, the film focuses on the story of a young girl, Sofia (played by newcomer Luísa Nunes), who, upon returning from the Swiss boarding school she attended after her mother’s death, discovers in her father’s (Artur Semedo) relationship with a new woman (Io Apoloni) an ambiguous reality from which she cannot escape. Gazes and bodies intertwine through mirror games, sexual manipulations, perverse films, and class clashes. Contributing to this dynamic is Jorge (Carlos Ferreiro), a young intellectual, high school teacher, amateur filmmaker (somewhat erotic), and reader of Gustave Flaubert. Lost in these amorous triangulations, Sofia lets herself be carried by the flows of desire, punishing herself for her surrender to pleasure. Structured in three chapters—*Iniciação*, *Prática*, *Recapitulação*—*Sofia e a Educação Sexual* is, in the words of its author, a film that “seeks to dismantle some of the obsessions of the national bourgeoisie.” For its political boldness and its unflinching portrayal of female sexuality, the film was considered “dissolving of established moral values and intentionally raising socio-political issues.”