Elize: Shadows of a Woman
A shocking true-life tale is brought to Netflix in typically tawdry and soap operatic style.
Let there be guns: Henrique Kimura and Lorena Comparato
Image courtesy of Netflix.
by JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Elize Matsunaga has inspired a book, a documentary miniseries currently available on Netflix and now the ‘true crime’ docudrama, also available on Netflix. The musical should be arriving soon. Apparently, Elize’s story stunned all of Brazil, as any account of a housewife and mother who chops up her husband and packs him up in a series of blue plastic bags undoubtedly would. A former prostitute and all-round gold digger, Elize sounded like really bad news and the book, TV series and movie seemed inevitable.
Marking the directorial debut of the Rio de Janeiro-born Felipe Vellasco, the film is a lurid, by-the-numbers affair that attempts to tell Elize’s story from her side of the prison bars. Because nobody butchers their husband for no reason. This version of events is very much told from the perspective of Elize Araújo Quitano herself, who came from a dysfunctional family and was routinely raped by her stepfather between the ages of twelve and fifteen.
Having trained as a nurse, she moved to São Paulo to capitalise on her good looks and became a high-end escort. She is then seduced by one of her clients, who bombards her with luxurious gifts and promises her untold wealth, a child and, significantly, divorce from his wife. He is Marcos Matsunaga (Henrique Kimura), an executive and heir to the Yoki food empire who was a serial womaniser and, as depicted here, a cheat, liar and gaslighter.
It is easy to feel for Elize’s plight, just because her story is so dire, but it’s hard to believe the human dynamic between her and Marcos – or any of the characters for that matter. Divided into various chapters titled ‘Fairy Tale’, ‘Sandcastle,’ ‘Whirlwind’ and ‘The Abyss’, the film is all garish surface and nothing resembling a genuine portrait of a couple on the cusp of love and death. Lorena Comparato is game in the part of Elize, but few of the actors have an opportunity to shine, whereas Kimura as Marcos is merely depicted as a one-dimensional male chauvinistic pig. The film had at least two directions to take, either as a stylish, pulpy true-crime melodrama, or something entirely more controlled and cinéma-vérité. In the event, Elize: Shadows of a Woman feels just like Latin-American fodder for Netflix, melodramatic soap opera for the masses. The last ten minutes almost salvage the preceding hour or so, but by then the film has lost any opportunity for forgiveness.
Original title: Elize: Sombras de uma Mulher.
Cast: Lorena Comparato, Henrique Kimura, Julia Konrad, Denise Weinberg, Miwa Yanagizawa, Ana Julia Dorigon, Julia Shimura, Gustavo Falcão, Flora Sandyá, Erica Montanheiro.
Dir Felipe Vellasco, Pro Gustavo Mello, Screenplay Raphael Montes and Mariana Torres, Ph Lícia Arosteguy, Pro Des Marinês Mencio, Ed Livia Arbex, Music Amabis, Costumes Márcia Nascimento.
Boutique Filmes-Netflix.
93 mins. Brazil. 2026. UK and US Rel: 22 July 2026. Cert. 15.
