Gabriela

Gabriela is set in 1925 in Ilhéus, a small Brazilian coastal town dominated by local landowners known as colonels. Nacib, who runs a bar, hires Gabriela, a poor and uneducated but charming young woman, first as a cook and then as his wife. Her free-spirited manner and the attention she draws from his customers unsettle him, and he grows tired of behaviour he considers improper. The marriage collapses when he finds her with his friend Tonico, and he has it annulled. The town's attitudes shift slowly, and Gabriela returns to Nacib, though on different terms than before. The film is based on the novel by Brazilian writer Jorge Amado.

Bruno Barreto directed, working from a screenplay he wrote with Leopoldo Serran and Flávio R. Tambellini. It followed Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1976) in his filmography and came before The Heart of Justice (1992). Sônia Braga plays Gabriela and Marcello Mastroianni plays Nacib, with Antonio Cantafora, Paulo Goulart, Tania Boscoli and Nicole Puzzi among the credited cast of twenty-three. The production was handled by United Artists, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Sultana.

The film runs 99 minutes and was released on 24 March 1983. It took about 1 million dollars worldwide, a modest return. On IMDb it holds 6.2 out of 10 from roughly 1,500 votes, while on TMDB it has 5.9 out of 10 from 44 votes. Audience response is therefore lukewarm and limited in scale.