Woman on Top

Isabella Oliveira is a gifted cook in Brazil whose husband, Toninho, owns a restaurant in Bahia. Their marriage unravels after he is unfaithful, and Isabella leaves for San Francisco, where a friend helps her start over. Her cooking talent soon brings her to television, where she becomes the host of a culinary show. A romance develops with a producer, while her husband tries to win her back, and her life is complicated by a strange condition that governs how she moves, travels and makes love.

Fina Torres directed the film from a screenplay by Vera Blasi, with Alan Poul producing. Penélope Cruz plays Isabella, Murilo Benício is Toninho, and Mark Feuerstein plays Cliff Lloyd, alongside John de Lancie, Anne Ramsay and Ana Gasteyer. It followed Torres's earlier features and was released in 2000.

Made for about 8 million dollars, Woman on Top took in roughly 10 million worldwide, a modest return. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.1 from 256 votes, while the film critics' score stands at 4.8 from 100 reviews, so audiences rated it somewhat more kindly than critics did.