Suci Sang Primadona

(title translation: Suci the Primadonna)

This debut by Arifin C. Noer, who came from a theatre background, is strikingly original. Arifin’s theatre experience ensures that the cast delivers very sensitive performances. So Suci’s performance is exaggerated when she is with Oom Kapten, Mr. Dawud and Mr. Condro. The three men are her clients and she is mistress to them. But Suci, the prima donna of the people’s theatre (a srimulat troupe, a traditional theatre style from East Java), who performs in a squalid village area, has her own dreams. Faced with Eros, a man who is running away from the pressures of his parents, Suci’s acts normally. Her personality becomes whole. But the relationship between the two creates a new dream for Suci, a love, that is impossible for her to have.