Etiquette for Mistresses

Etiquette for Mistresses

In an alternate world, one conceived by Chito S. Roño out of Julie Yap Daza’s bestseller, Kris Aquino rules a kind of an exclusive clique. I realize this doesn’t sound surprising at all—this is just Kris being Kris—but the world in which her prude restaurateur Georgina exists is less ideal for anyone’s reign. At least that of her kind. Being a kept woman doesn’t read well on someone’s bio, but it doesn’t stop her from being by least decent, maintaining utmost concern for decorum. You know, it’s de rigueur for mistresses to know their place; to not nag, as that’s the wife’s job; to accept that they will never be the man’s “number one.” These principles later find Georgina tasked with modelling a young woman named Ina (Kim Chiu) after her, to make out of her a “perfect mistress.”

Here lies the film’s acuity: the quintet of kept women are cloaked by their lovers from the public eye; they live in hiding. They’re on the less forgiving end of a constant witch hunt, which in hindsight is what mistresses are to society—witches to be burned at the stake. That said the film is not one bit apologetic, nor does it seek validation for being a kept lover; Etiquette for Mistresses, rather, is Roño exhibiting information on this secret society Georgina and her clique lives in, his laid-back observations as sharp and audacious as the film’s excessive counterparts. (Remember No Other Woman?).

It seems convenient, this secret society in which the takeaway is that a mistress must have her own band of misfit “amigas.” They shop altogether—using their men’s money, of course; “enjoy the perks,” cajoles Chloe (Claudine Baretto)—and spend holidays with each other. It’s a coven of at least decent principles, never mind complete political correctness. It is Georgina’s responsibility to make an at least respectable lover out of Ina, being that the beau is the husband (Zoren Legaspi) of a respected senator; to be her own Glinda, always clad in white, to Ina’s doe-eyed Dorothy. Chloe, whose crises with her lover makes her an unreliable but willing mentor, is always clothed in depressing colors she may just be the film’s Wicked Witch of the West. In any case they take care of each other, and as one conflict is resolved only for another to emerge, the stakes increasingly higher, the film peels—tenderly—the layers off the mistresses, proving to be characters with actual depth.

Creating them is a demanding passion and a perfect time for me to smoke a cigar, sip some Jack Daniel’s, and listen to Willie Nelson.” The driver’s education received through the mechanism is surely a great deal! online viagra canada The learning method and the virtual classroom ambience is simple to understand and all assistance is provided to allow students get accustomed with the concepts of learning tools and education. It prices of viagra can be taken with or before food. If the friends are intelligent, chances of getting valuable cialis price in india suggestions from them are pretty high. It is not intended as a substitute cheapest levitra that contributes towards the easy consumption of this remedy. That said, the film doesn’t come without problems. There’s a disconcerting sense of doggedness throughout the film, one that renders it a seemingly product-first production. Cheena Crab’s homemaker Charley deserves more screen time beyond her being exploited as the film’s primary comic relief; Iza Calzado’s lawyer Stella is given character development half-hour late into the film.

While the film is technically sound—a confrontation scene between Georgina and Chloe, surely the film’s highlight, makes for a compelling moment what with its single-shot chiaroscuro beauty—I maintain a few gripes about the overall editing of the film, giving off the impression that it’s rushed work, crammed to meet the due play date. A dreadful slap in the face—we are, in truth, consuming Star Cinema’s newest product. Perhaps most criminal: whether or not the mistresses deserve redemption, the film doesn’t answer; it, too, dares not ask the question. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXsUUJY_aGM

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