The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao

Karim Aïnouz (2021)

Carol Duarte, Julia Stockler, Gregorio Duvivier Rated U Run time 139 mins
It is 1950 and inseparable sisters, 18 year old Euridice and 20 year old Guida live at home with their conservative parents. Although immersed in a traditional life, they each hold a private dream: Euridice of becoming a pianist and Guida of finding love. But when they are forced to live apart they must take control of their separate destinies, while never giving up hope of finding each other.
A keen-eyed study of a profoundly patriarchal society where dreams are routinely dashed and freedoms denied. Helene Louvart’s striking cinematography and a very sensitive use of music eloquently evoke the sisters’ inner lives while the performances are top-notch throughout.
94 – Rotten Tomatoes
7.8/10 – IMDB
“high emotion articulated with utmost sincerity and heady stylistic excess, all in the perspiring environs of midcentury Rio de Janeiro — while surprising with its pointed feminist politics and occasionally sharp social truths.”
“In a film of grand emotional gestures, the richness of “Eurídice Gusmão’s” images and soundscape is entirely appropriate: No one here is permitted to suffer in silence, much less in ugliness. “
Film Review: The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmaio: A Nourishing Melodrama – Variety