Movie review – "Alice’s house" is an extraordinary Brazilian film brilliantly conceived and acted
“Alice’s House” is an extraordinary Brazilian film, brilliantly conceived and well worth watching. This kitchen drama is a refreshingly naturalistic look at an urban, middle-class family from São Paulo, thrown into turmoil by sexual and emotional betrayal. The ever-resonant Carla Ribas in the title role takes us on an arduous journey in which she is repeatedly rejected as she searches for release and romance.
The story revolves around a forty-something Alice who works as a manicurist at a beauty salon. She shares an apartment on the outskirts of the city with her mother, Doña Jacira, her husband, Lindomar, a taxi driver, and her three sons, Lucas, Edinho and Junior. The film is about a woman’s day-to-day life in which she alludes to herself and makes the same mistakes over and over again. With her small actions, intimate insights, and her daily frustrations, nothing is safe in this emotional vacuum. It is a fragile family, which could deteriorate and break up at any moment.
At home, men pay little attention to Alice, while at work she leads an attractive life. The warm atmosphere of the beauty salon offers hope, while the cramped life of her apartment suffocates her with a narcissistic indifference. With coworkers and clients, she can tell jokes, have after-work drinks, and commiserate for wanting better.
Everyone in Alice’s world has a secret: her husband has developed a passion for underage girls; one of her sons is a gay con man, another is a petty thief, and the youngest is tormented by his sexual arousals, while his aging mother slowly goes blind. Even her clients have secrets and soon Alice succumbs to the same sexual intrigue and deceit, and she develops her own secret life.
Director Chico Teixeira creates a highly detailed world for these characters in both their emotional and physical worlds. By the end of the film, one can not only describe Alice’s small apartment, but also the needs and desires of each and every character. The film also offers a glimpse into Brazil’s unpretentious culture and its casual approach to sex, at least among the middle class. Sex, love, romance are the forces in this story and even the grandmother finds solace in the voice of a radio host. Her pursuit is to be a winner on her call show.
Navigating this story can take a bit of effort, as there’s no music to guide you through your sensibilities. Therefore, the judgments you arrive at are likely to be your own. This makes Carla Ribas’s performance in the lead role all the more remarkable. Her range represents a myriad of emotions that propel the story forward through her innocent flirtations, dramatic entanglements, and harsh consequences. Teixeira, the director, uses silence to focus on this internal turmoil. There is a scene where Alice can’t sleep and goes out on the balcony to calm her nerves. Her mother (Berta Zemel) comes out and stands next to her not speaking, but relating. It is a moving scene where her mother, although she is blinded, ironically sees and feels everything her daughter endures. Just being there, that’s enough.
On filming without using dialogue, the director said, “I discovered that the body speaks for itself, like a dance. I learned that bodies speak a lot.”
Produced with limited resources, “Alice’s House” is an extraordinary film, unique and inventive in many ways. He deals with a variety of disappointments along with the tragedy of a woman tied to family, but longs to be free from the boredom and monotony of her life. Despite the trials she faces, she has the optimism and resilience to make us root for her happiness. The handheld camera gracefully finds those moments of realization, reflection and hope contrasted with pain.
Carla Ribas is a theater actress who started acting at the age of 35 and won the role on the recommendation of the famous theater coach and casting director Fátima Toledo. It’s Carla’s first film role, one that has already garnered her numerous awards as well as industry-wide recognition. The excellent cast also hits the mark. Prior to production, they worked together for three months under the tutelage of Fátima Toledo. The actors never saw the script, instead taking their lines from the Fatima performances.
Celebrated documentary filmmaker Tico Teixeira is praised for his ability to get his subjects to open up about their innermost feelings. This experience is most evident in “Alice’s House,” his award-winning first feature, an extraordinarily insightful film well worth watching.
CREDITS: Directed by Chico Teixeira “Alicia’s House” starring Carla Ribas, Berta Zemel, Zecarlos Machado, Luciano Quirino, Renata Zhaneta, Vinicius Zinn, Ricardo Vilaca, Felipe Massuia and Mariana Leighton. Screenplay by Chico Teixeira, Julio Pessoa, Sabina Anzuategui and Marcelo Gomes. Director of photography; Mauro Pinheiro Jr. 92 Min. In Portuguese with English subtitles, Unrated. Available on DVD.