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Ugly Me
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Wikipedia article
'Pretendiendo' (Spanish: 'Pretending'), known as 'Ugly Me' in the U.S., is a 2006 Chilean romantic comedy film directed and written by Claudio Dabed. The film is about a beautiful but romantically disappointed woman named Amanda. In an attempt to avoid men and getting hurt again, she adopts another persona, that of an "ugly" girl, while at the same time posing as a gorgeous vixen named Helena. When Argentinian co-worker and ladies' man Marcelo enters into her life, Helena/Amanda will have to re-think her life choices as a single woman. The film stars Brbara Mori as Amanda/Helena.
Plot
Amanda, a beautiful but psychopathic young woman who works as an architect, catches her boyfriend Pablo in bed with another woman. In a rage, she threatens him with a shotgun and then shoots him in the groin so he'll never "cheat" again. A psychiatrist assigned to evaluate her as part of a court settlement determines that Amanda feels no remorse for what she did and in fact believes that she would do the same thing again if given the chance. Amanda is fired and decides to move away from Santiago, convincing her brother to let her move into his vacant apartment in Valparaiso.
Deciding that she needs to avoid romance entirely to keep her new life from imploding, Amanda uses a fat suit, unflattering clothes, buck-tooth dentures, makeup, and a wig to disguise herself as a frumpy, middle-aged woman with children. She meets with Max, a local architect, and accepts a lower-paying job in his office. Max introduces her to the other employees at his firm: dutiful married man Guillermo, scheming blond bombshell Karen, and womanizer Marcelo. Amanda meets Marcelo and both find the other to be horribly repulsive, as Marcelo is disgusted by Amanda's appearance and Amanda is bothered by how much he reminds her of Pablo.
Max chooses Amanda over Karen to lead an investigation into a maintenance issue at one of their projects, angering the latter. Marcelo and Guillermo accompany Amanda, but mostly let her do all the work while they laugh and share stories about women and sex. Amanda is forced to remove part of her disguise while checking on a problem, which Marcelo nearly sees before Amanda shines her flashlight into his eyes. After work, she and Marcelo go out for drinks. Amanda lies to Marcelo, telling him that she has two sons and chastising him for pursuing only sex and not real love. In turn, Marcelo tells her that marriage is the death of love and describes, in heavy detail, exactly what kind of woman he likes.
Amanda, realizing the opportunity this presents, begins toying with Marcelo as her real self, using the alias of "Helena". As Amanda, she slowly begins to befriend Marcelo, who is confused as to why "Helena" treats him disrespectfully and turns to his co-worker for advice on how to be a better boyfriend. Karen, jealous of their close relationship, tries to embarrass Amanda by asking her to bring her children to the office. Amanda procures two orphan boys from a sympathetic priest and notices that Marcelo seems to enjoy playing with them. Later, she teaches him how to cook proper food for "Helena", and while talking with him after, they share a kiss.
Marcelo invites "Helena" over to his apartment and admits that he loves her. Amanda, feeling that Marcelo does not truly love her because she is attractive, convinces him to dress up as a woman and handcuff himself to the bed. She then pretends to cut his chest with a prop knife and leaves; the police arrive and free him, but the resulting press coverage makes Marcelo into a laughingstock. Amanda then converses with Marcelo at work, learning that because of what "Helena" did, Marcelo has sworn never to be with a woman again until he gets married. He and Karen start dating, and before long they get engaged. Amanda is heartbroken to learn of Marcelo's decision, but nevertheless agrees to be Karen's maid of honor at the ceremony. When the time comes for Marcelo to deliver his vows, he suddenly falls silent. Amanda then sneezes and her dentures pop out. Upon seeing that her smile is identical to Helena's, Marcelo realizes that the two women are the same and breaks off his engagement to Karen without a second thought. The film ends with Amanda and Marcelo, now happily married and with three children of their own.
Cast
* Brbara Mori ... Amanda Miranda / Helena
* Marcelo Mazzarello ... Marcelo Rocco
* Amaya Forch ... Karen
* Gonzalo Robles ... Brother Juan
* Rodrigo Muoz ... Guillermo
* Jaime Azcar ... Max Lpez
* Alejandro Cohen ... Dr. Perner
* Paz Bascun ... Fernanda
* Felipe Camiroaga ... Pepe
* Fernando Kliche ... Pablo
* Fernando Faras ... Priest
* Ignacio Mansilla ... Detective
* Claudia Vergara ... Max's Wife
* Cristian Martnez ... Nightclub Macho Guy
* Claudio Dabed ... Nightclub DJ
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