Retrato de Carmem D.
Isabel Joffily
Brazil | 2015 | 21 min
International Premiere
Language : Portuguese
Subtitles : English, French
Carmem Dametto is a psychiatrist. She has contributed to a more modern approach to psychiatry in Brazil. Despite her best efforts, the relationship with her daughter has always been difficult in the least. The daughter has always felt rejected by her mother, while the mother has always harboured some resentment that her job as a scientist and a political activist has never been fully appreciated as it should have been. The film focuses on how the two women share the same space of the house and how they both silently fight for the love they crave from each other with all their strength. Unexpressed feelings and painful memories from the past metamorphose in the secret sharers of the place they inhabit. Thus, the film becomes a bittersweet ghost story. Will the two women learn to accept each other? Will they eventually understand how to cope with differences? A fascinating study of two strong characters and their struggle for love and acceptance. A film that recalls late Bergman andSoderbergh’s slightly angular feminist approach.
Giona A. Nazzaro
