A man who has just met his fate looks back on the life he's just completed in this historical comedy-drama based on a novel by Machado de Assis. 19th century tycoon Cubas (Reginaldo Faria) has just died, and his spirit takes a long look back on his life and his loves, as he courts a number of beautiful women in his youth -- including a lovely but greedy prostitute (Sonia Braga) -- and later in life strikes it rich by creating a popular patent medicine, Bras Cubas Poultice. The younger Cubas is played by Petronio Gontijo); Andre Klotzel directed and adapted the screenplay.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide