A gossip columnist is assigned with interviewing an American actress visiting Brazil. At the airport another woman pretends to be that actress, and he believes her (he has never seen a photo of that actress!). The impostor woman asks to stay in the columnist's apartment, claiming she is without a passport. Her mysterious identity and behavior intrigue the young man. He becomes attracted to her, but she refuses to give him even a kisss. Eventually it is revealed that she has a wager going on which states that she should live off the favors of a man for a certain period of time, without retributing those favors in any way, even with a mere kiss.
Comedy whose plot and style have been said to evoke the screwball comedy of American cinema of the 1930s and 1940s. While the dialogue and direction have a certain refinement which places it above the average of Brazilian productions of the time, the utter silliness of the premise weakens it somewhat.
This is said to be based on a play by Alessandro De Stefani, and the book Participação italiana no cinema brasileiro, by Máximo Barro, says that É Proibido Beijar is a "remake of an Italian comedy from the years 1930-1940"; the plot bears a slight similarity with La prima donna che passa (1940), written by him. The synopsis for the latter film provided by IMDB is as follows:
At the 17th century French Court, Cardinal Richelieu bets with two courtesans about the possibility that by midnight he succeeds in conquering the first woman who will pass at that time.I don't really know if this is the comedy to which Barro alludes to, but I couldn't locate any other movie with a similar plot.
Rating: 45
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