The Second Mother 2015

     Val works as a housekeeper for Dona Barbara and a nanny to her son Fabinho in Sao Paulo.  She doesn’t need to pay for her room and board so she is financially stable.  She regrets and feels guilty about leaving her daughter Jessica in Pernambuco with her father and his relatives.  Pernambuco is in the northeast of Brazil and Val is divorced from Jessica’s father.  The divorce was acrimonious and Val doesn’t speak to her ex-husband or his relatives.  Jessica calls Val and asks to come and live with her.  She wants to take her college entrance exams at the University of Sao Paulo.  After she arrives, she doesn’t want to sleep with Val in her small room but she wants the guest room?  Val feels this is outrageous because Jessica is the daughter of a servant and not a guest?

     It doesn’t go smoothly when Jessica begins living in this household with Val and the family.  Dona Barbara is not happy with Jessica in the guest room.  She has the pool drained because she said she saw a rat?  It was really because she didn’t want Jessica swimming with Fabinho and his friend?  Val tries to explain to Jessica how she should be behaving but she does not want to listen or change how she acts.  (3* this movie is OK)

112 min, in Portuguese with English subtitles, drama directed and written by Anna Muylaert with Regina Case, Helena Albergaria, Michel Joelsas, Karine Teles, Lourenco  Mutarelli, Bete Dorgam, Luis Miranda, Theo Werneck, Luci Pereira, Anapaula Casernik, Hugo Villavicenzio, Roberto Camargo, Alex Huszar.

Note:  Imdb 7.8 out of 10, 96% critic 89% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, The Guardian Peter Bradshaw 4* out of 5*, Metacritic 82 out of 100 with 26 critics 8.7 out of 10 with 111 reviews, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 258 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Morumbi, Sao Paulo, Brazil.  The title was originally The Kitchen Door and it was based on Muylaert’s own experiences with a nanny who cared for her son and letting her daughter be cared for by others.  An early draft of the screenplay had Jessica come to Sao Paulo to become a hairdresser and then becoming a nanny like her mother.  The Premier was at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival with Regina Case and Camila Mardila sharing the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for acting.  The European premiere took place in the Panorama section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival and it won the Panorama Audience Award. There is another film with the same tile from 1925.