Every Twenty-Something Should Watch 'The Most Beautiful Thing' on Netflix
by Megan Slack
We've all been there - those days where you have a to-do list as long as your arm, but instead choose to watch Netflix. However, we feel a crucial PSA is in order, because some forms of procrastination can actually help turn your life around. The Brazilian period drama, Coisa Mais Linda, or The Most Beautiful Thing, will do just that.*
The Most Beautiful Thing opens in 1959 Rio de Janeiro, with Maria Luiza, who has moved to Rio from her home in São Paulo. Her plan is to open a restaurant with her husband. However, it is quite apparent this isn't going to be the case from the pilot episode, in which she sets her husband’s photographs and love letters alight. Maria then attends a boat party, drinks a lot of champagne, and dives into the ocean, in a way reminiscent of the ending of the ‘Dancing Queen’ scene in Mamma Mia.
Sure, that's one way to get over a breakup, but it is what Maria Luiza does next that should be an inspiration to us all - breakup or not.
Who can forget Mamma Mia, and Donna in particular, who was a true icon in the summer of 2018? You’d be lying if you said you hadn’t considered dropping everything to relocate to a Greek island and put on your dungarees. With her Brazilian Hepburn inspired aesthetic and determination to get her business off the ground, Maria Luiza similarly radiates girl power. We stan Maria Luiza, and you heard it here first.
Maria Casadevall and Pathy Dejesus in Coisa Mais Linda
Along with her close circle of fearless female friends, Adélia, Lígia and Thereza, Maria embraces the "beauty that comes from the sorrow of being a woman" by slowly smashing the patriarchy... Yes, Maria Luiza's husband vanishes in the first episode, but this doesn’t stop her from continuing to open a Bossa nova (Brazilian music) club, with her new friend Adélia who equally owns 50% of the business.
Though all of the characters experience their own struggles, it is the character of Lígia whose story is particularly hard to watch, as she overcomes domestic abuse to make a name for herself as a singer. Last, but certainly not least, Thereza Soares is the woman we all aspire to be, as she breaks down barriers in her position at a women's magazine, where, bizarrely, she is the only woman employed.
The struggles of these women make their successes even sweeter, and if you don't finish The Most Beautiful Thing feeling inspired (which you will) then you’ll have still been educated in how women can combat sexism in their daily lives by refusing to occupy subservient roles and creating their own opportunities for success.
These women take over your screen for seven glitteringly aesthetic and vintage kissed episodes, and leave you with a feeling of appreciation, motivation and downright empowerment. The location, the music and the fashion are remarkably beautiful, but the message of the show is powerful.
If you follow in anybody's footsteps this decade, let it be those of Maria Luiza, Adélia, Lígia and Thereza. Okay, you might not be able to celebrate your success on the beaches of Rio, but hey, I'm sure other arrangements can be made…
Procrastinate to the full and remember: Garota, você pode fazer qualquer coisa.
Girl, you can do anything.
*Since publishing, Netflix have renamed this show. It is now titled Girls from Ipanema.
Title image from Coisa Mais Linda, Netflix.
Megan Slack is a MA International Journalism student at the University of Leeds, who has written for Likibu and The Tab. Read more by Megan on Harpy.
