Carlota Joaquina, Princesa do Brasil (Carlota Joaquina, Princess of Brazil) is an 1995 Brazilian period piece movie directed by Carla Camurati about Carlota Joaquina of Spain
, the consort of Prince-Regent John of Portugal during their refuge from Napoléon Bonaparte in Colonial Brazil, as told by an Scottish man to his niece Yolanda. Notable for being an Brazilian movie that speaks three different languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese all at once. Starring Marieta Severo as the title character and Marco Nanini as Prince John.
This film contains the following tropes:
- Alpha Bitch: Carlota Joaquina and how. Truth in Television since she absolutely hated living in Brazil.
- Arranged Marriage: Carlota was set up to marry John while she was eleven and he was eighteen. Understandably, their marriage is not a happy or stable one.
- Audience Surrogate: Yolanda, since she is the one the story is being told to. The movie also starts with her imagining herself as Carlota when she is a little girl.
- Bigot with a Crush: Carlota is disgusted by the African descended Brazilians, but ends up having an affair with an black freeman.
- Bilingual Bonus: Yolanda and her uncle's dialogue is exclusively in English due to both of them being from Scotland. Carlota and the Spanish court only speaks in their native language even when speaking to other characters without no language barriers. The royal family speaks Portuguese with European accent while the Brazilians speak Brazilian-accented Portuguese.
- Character Exaggeration: Due to the satirical comedy nature of the movie, characters are more over-the-top than their real-life counterparts:
- It's true that Carlota wasn't well liked in either Portugal and Brazil; she was reviled by the Portuguese for her ambitious bids for power and trying to install her son Miguel as an absolute monarch, and she made no secret about how much she hated the tropical environment in Brazil and is said to have thrown her shoes in Brazil's direction while sailing back to Europe saying "I don't even want the dirt from this land". However, the movie depicts her as sexually incontinent and outright says that only a few of her children were actually John's, which as far as historical sources goes, this is unconfirmed and possibly malicious slander spread by her detractors, since Spaniards habits and customs were more liberal compared to the more traditional and conservative Portuguese, who didn't take kindly to Carlota's independence. Likewise, the Ear Ache incident and all the instances were she had lovers killed were likely made up too.
- Prince John is depicted as an incompetent, lazy, clumsy, indolent glutton, which couldn't be furthered from the truth as he was considered a very skilled statesman considering he reigned during a very turbulent time, but nonetheless is responsible for laying the foundations for modern Brazil.
- Culture Clash: Carlota doesn't adapt to the Portuguese court very well, due to how dull and melancholic it was compared to her lively and vibrant home in Spain. Ironic considering Portugal and Spain were very close linguistically and culturally. She hates Brazil even more.
- Ear Ache: One night when John tried to consummate their wedding, Carlota bit him in the ear enough to draw a lot of blood.
- End of an Age: The era of absolute monarchies comes to an end with the French Revolution, and as an product of such time, Carlota experiences the effects of it while she is still a child.
- Framing Device: The whole movie is a story narrated to a Scottish girl from her uncle about Carlota Joaquina.
- Lady in Red: Carlota favors wearing red as the poster shows, and befitting her status as an Spicy Latina.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: Even though she is initially just a princess at first, Carlota quickly grows into this trope after her husband is turned into the effective ruler of the Portuguese Empire.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Napoléon Bonaparte forces the Portuguese royal family to flee from their home into Brazil. He is the closest thing to an antagonist in the story, yet he is never seen or faced in the story but his actions affect the main characters' lives nonetheless. Not to mention, he is fated to be defeated at Waterloo of which John wouldn't participate due to being hiding out of fear.
- Henpecked Husband: John is pushed around by his wife very easily. She outright tells to his face that most of their children were from other men and he only recoils.
- Historical Domain Character: Most of the cast are actual historical figures.
- Historical Beauty Upgrade: Downplayed with John IV: He was depicted in paintings as fat and rotund, but while Marco Nanini looks a bit disheveled, he isn't really morbidly obese (even though the movie says he is).
- Male Gaze: When Carlota grows up into adulthood, the first glimpse we get from her is from her cleavage and the narrator does take a moment to point out she grew into a woman with "big breasts".
- Overdrawn at the Blood Bank: Carlota chews off part of John's ear while in bed, but you wouldn't think this if you saw the massive amount of blood spread over the bed.
- Princess Protagonist: Carlota, the protagonist, starts out a princess.
- Really Gets Around: The main character, to the point she is called a "dragon" by the narrator due to being a total man-eater. She gave birth to nine bastard children as a result.
- Regent for Life: An sympathetic example with John, who is saddled with this role since his mother Maria is still technically the queen regnant, but cannot rule because of her madness and nor he can inherit the throne until her death, despite being way past adulthood.
- Spare to the Throne: John was not supposed to inherit the throne since he was second to his older brother, the actual heir who ended up dying. He wasn't really prepared to rule and prefer to spend his time more eating and doing other things. It becomes even worse when he is forced to rule as an regent after his mother becomes mentally unstable and incapable of ruling.
- Spicy Latina: Carlota is an hot-blooded Spanish princess that fits this trope like a glove. It makes her stand out even more with the Portuguese court, who is more somber and stoic.
- Villain Protagonist: Carlota Joaquina isn't really sympathetic, and is actually portrayed as an huge bitch that wants nothing but power and control, and isn't afraid to kill those that slight her.
- Woman Scorned: One of Carlota's paramours is an gardener that is about to get married with another woman. How she reacts? By killing him with his own pitchfork.
