Pragda Spanish Film Festival: The Second Mother
Pragda Spanish Film Festival: The Second Mother
School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures | Spanish and Portuguese
Monday, October 30, 2017 7:00 pm
St. Mary’s Hall,
Multipurpose Room
PRAGDA SPANISH FILM FESTIVAL: Celebrating the New Wave of Ibero American Cinema. Hosted by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese,
The Fourth Film of the Pragda Spanish Film Festival: THE SECOND MOTHER (Que horas ela volta?). Discussion with Dr. Regina Igel and Dr. Thayse Lima.,
Director: Anna Muylaert,
Drama Language: Portuguese with English subtitles,
Nationality: Brazil, 112 min / 2015,
With Regina Casé, Michel Joelsals, Camila Márdila, Karine Teles, and Lourenço Mutarelli.
An excitingly fresh take on some classic themes and ideas, The Second Mother dissects with both impeccable precision and humor such matters as class differences and family. The film centers around Val, a hard- working live-in housekeeper in modern day Sao Paulo.
Val (stunning performed by Regina Casé) is perfectly content to take care of every one of her wealthy employers’ needs, from cooking and cleaning to being a surrogate mother to their teenage son, who she has raised since he was a toddler. But when Val’s estranged daughter Jessica suddenly shows up, the unspoken but intrinsic class barriers that exist within the home are thrown into disarray. Jessica is smart, confident, and ambitious, and refuses to accept the upstairs/downstairs dynamic, testing relationships and loyalties and forcing everyone to reconsider what family really means.