The Second Mother

15 yrs 112 minutes • 2015 • 7.8

The hard-working housekeeper Val lives with her employers, a well-off family from the Brazilian upper middle class. Her daughter has grown up elsewhere. When the almost grown up daughter Jéssica suddenly turn up, all unspoken class barriers in the home are turned upside down and chaos emerges. The fact that Brazil has one of the world’s most uneven distribution of income is, according to Anna Muylaert at Sydsvenskan, portrayed with “unconventionality, humor and accuracy”. He concludes: “with a light touch and personal portrait without clichés, Muylaert turns a rather low-key daily life drama into grand and moving entertainment. Nothing of the bright, teary finish takes away from the power of this film”. The Second Mother won the Audience Award at both the Berlin and the Gothenburg Film Festival.