Presença de Anita

2001 Brazilian drama television miniseries

Presença de Anita

Also known as	The Presence of Anita
Genre	Drama
Based on	Presença de Anita by Mário Donato
Screenplay by	Manoel Carlos
Directed by	Ricardo Waddington Alexandre Avancini
Starring	Mel Lisboa José Mayer Helena Ranaldi Leonardo Miggiorin Vera Holtz
Theme music composer	Jacques Brel
Opening theme	"Ne me quitte pas", performed by Maysa
Country of origin	Brazil
Original language	Portuguese
No. of episodes	16
Production
Producer	Ruy Mattos
Production locations	Vassouras, Rio de Janeiro Valença, Rio de Janeiro
Cinematography	Elton Menezes
Editors	Gilson Câmara Willian Alves Correia Jr.
Running time	29–71 minutes
Original release
Release	7 August (2001-08-07) – 31 August 2001 (2001-08-31)

Presença de Anita (English: The Presence of Anita)^[1] is a 2001 Brazilian drama television miniseries based on the 1948 novel of the same name by Mário Donato. Directed by Ricardo Waddington and Alexandre Avancini, the series aired on Rede Globo from 7 to 31 August 2001, consisting of 16 episodes.

It is a story about obsession, seduction, and death, centering around an 18-year-old Lolita-type girl named Anita, and a 45-year-old family man, Fernando. The miniseries stars Mel Lisboa and José Mayer as the main characters. Lisboa, who was 19 at the time, had her acting debut in this series, playing her most famous role to date.

Synopsis

The plot begins with a couple, Lucia Helena (Helena Ranaldi) and Fernando (José Mayer), who are going through a marital crisis. He is an architect with literary aspirations who wants to finish his first book. She is a woman whose main concern is rescuing the love of her husband and saving her marriage. They live in the urban chaos of São Paulo. Lucia Helena decides to invest in a trip with the family, her son Luiz, and her stepdaughter Luiza (Júlia Almeida), to her hometown Florence, in the state of São Paulo, where the family gathers for Christmas and New Year.

In order to save her marriage, Lucia tries to please her husband by accepting his rages, encouraging his literary projects, and participating in his fantasies. Fernando wants to enjoy the end of the year by pursuing an old dream: to write a novel. In search of inspiration, he ends up finding Anita (Mel Lisboa), the ideal character for his novel.

Anita moves into a house where a crime of passion had occurred in the past. Anita lives in the most intense way, luring Fernando and awakening the first passion of Zezinho (Leonardo Miggiorin), a boy who lives across the way. Thus, she ends up forming a love triangle that forever changes the lives of everyone involved.