Sometimes your unconscious desires have a way of pointing you to truths hiding in plain sight. When Babi (Giovanna Lancellotti), a successful accountant, learns that her fiancé’s been cheating on her, she’s furious, devastated, and has no choice but to start over: She gets back on her motorcycle, joins a bike club, and dyes her hair dark. Meanwhile, she crosses paths with Marco — or, as she privately nicknames him, “the hot judge” — and suddenly she’s swept into a torrid affair. But is there more to her new paramour than meets the eye? “He’s obsessed with the truth, but shrouded in mystery,” Babi tells her friends cryptically.
Directed by Diego Freitas (Beyond the Universe) and adapted from Sue Hecker’s novel O Lado Bom de Ser Traída (which roughly translates as: The Good Side of Being Betrayed), the Brazilian film Burning Betrayal is a stylish thriller driven by a bold sexual adventure — think Fifty Shades of Grey and Sex/Life.
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Even while she’s being fitted for her wedding gown, Babi can’t shake the wild dream she had the night before — a dangerous and exciting motorcycle ride into a dark, rainy tunnel, followed by a passionate tryst with an incredibly attractive man who was most decidedly not her fiancé.
Maybe it’s a sign not to settle down too soon, her ride-or-die best friend and co-worker Paty (Camilla de Lucas) suggests as she hangs out at the fitting, swiping left and right on hookup apps. After all, Babi hasn’t been around the block half as much as sexually adventurous, down-for-anything-and-anyone Paty. For five years, she and Caio (Micael) have been in a monogamous relationship. Or… so Babi thought.
That is until her bachelorette party, when the male stripper dances off into the shadows and Babi opens a gift from an unknown sender containing photos of Caio’s indiscretions. Suddenly all those unexplained business trips to Rio click into place. Heartbroken, humiliated, and utterly livid, Babi does some unorthodox investigation and discovers Caio’s had a mistress for two years.
With the help of Paty and her best friend Thiago (Bruno Montaleone), who’s also her sweet, bespectacled work partner, Babi manages to pull herself together, but she’s still dead-set on revenge, too, hoping to dig up dirt on her ex. After all, Caio’s business is one of her firm’s biggest clients, and both she and Thiago had just attended a court hearing where Caio was questioned in connection with an alleged money-laundering scheme. Caio had brushed it off as a routine appearance and it seemed innocent enough at the time — except, that is, for the “hot judge” Marco (Leandro Lima) presiding over the proceedings.
And there’s definitely nothing innocent about the attraction between Babi and Marco when she encounters him again at his office, and again, when Babi happens to join Marco’s motorcycle club, speeding down scenic coastal roads and spending a night together that rivals the one in her dream.
But can Marco be trusted any more than Caio? There are warning signs aplenty — Marco’s elusiveness, a strange and aggressive stalker, the secrets Babi discovers behind closed doors. The head of the motorcycle club takes Babi aside, cautioning her that Marco is “mysterious,” and she’d be wise to steer clear. “One day I’ll tell you my story,” Marco promises her. Will it be too late?
Yes, Burning Betrayal is an adaptation of the novel O Lado Bom de Ser Traída by Sue Hecker.
Burning Betrayal is set in São Paulo.
