Why we picked it – We have been trying to show this film since April 2020. Its release in the UK was delayed by the pandemic but finally here it is, an old-fashioned epic melodrama about two sisters.
Synopsis – In the interview above, Aïnouz describes the film as a “tropical melodrama”. At the beginning we see two young women taking a walk in the jungle. They lose each other. This is a preface to the story of inseparable sisters Eurídice and Guida who live with their conservative parents in 1950s Rio. Good girl Eurídice wants to study piano in Vienna. Vivacious Guida elopes with a Greek sailor. When she returns pregnant, her father throws her out. He doesn’t tell Eurídice that Guida has returned and he lets Guida believe that Eurídice is in Vienna. Guida has her child. She struggles to get by but takes control of her life. Eurídice’s arranged marriage is upwardly mobile, but it frustrates her musical ambitions. The sisters never meet again, each believing the other is living their dream far away and neither knowing that the other is actually in the same city.
The film – The cinematography is very composed: the jungle preface gives way to domestic spaces of the working class home in which the two sisters grow up contrasting with the middle class apartment into which Eurídice moves on her marriage and the dirt-floor favela in which Guida ends up. Outdoor night time scenes match darkness with vibrant neon signs of the city. There is an exploding paint factory of patterns and colours throughout with a pulsating sound track.
Director: Karim Aïnouz, Brazil 2019 139 mins (18) Writers: Murilo Hauser (screenplay), Martha Bataltha (adapted from her novel of the same name). Cast: Julia Stockler, Carol Duarte. Cinematography: Hélène Louvart.
Links: imdb entry The Playlist review Variety review Guardian review The Irish Times review
Trivia Eurídice and Guida’s parents speak with Portuguese (as opposed to Brazilian accents) showing that they are first generation emigrants to Brazil. The father is a baker, a typical occupation for a family.