Roberto de Oliveira

Elis & Tom is considered one of the most important albums in the history of Brazilian music. Recorded in Los Angeles, in 1974, it was all captured by a team of filmmakers led by director Roberto de Oliveira, who arranged for the duo to meet. The original footage was kept for 45 years until restored and remastered in 2018. The film is also an exciting reunion of the director with the artists and the material he filmed nearly five decades ago.

Elis was complete, she had all the attributes which differentiated simple artists from stars. She could enchant crowds in her albums, concerts and in video. Her music was always associated to the stage, site she mastered with brilliance. Throughout her career, these stages would open to her, from the radio days to the Montreux Jazz Festival. This film shows her magic relationship with stage and audience. And also the Bandeirantes theatre, her last stronghold. There she shone in life with her greatest success in theater, the show 'Falso Brilhante', which is also presented and entitles this film. There her body was veiled and her audience went to meet her for the last time, now for a farewell.

Brazilian singer Rita Lee narrates moments about her life, from her childhood to the meeting with Roberto de Carvalho. The documentary is permeated with excerpts from the singer's concerts, with songs sung entirely.

She mesmerised the crowd. The first sight would rapidly disappear and anyone who would get closer would also be surprised. It is not known if she did it for "beauty or precision", as Guimarães Rosa used to say. But the truth is that stereotypes would be destroyed as soon as she would fetch her followers. And revelations would unfold. Behind her suavely acute and toned voice, there was a deep tone that only few could reach. Behind her humble upbringing, there was an uncommon sensibility and intelligence. Her disguise was her irrepressible technique. Elis was pure emotion. And singing was not her final objective, she really wanted to make people happy. This film honours Elis and creates a singular portrait of Brazil's biggest star.

Her difficult career beginning in her hometown, Porto Alegre, was not different from her friends' stories. Elis belonged to a group of people born to win. She had the talent, she knew her potential and she just needed to face the world with courage and determination. That is exactly what she did. The result is known by everybody and it is in this film, a unique register of memorable interpretations by Elis, including the song which Elis learned with Tom Jobim and entitles the film.