Val is a much put-upon live-in maid to a lazy and self-absorbed wealthy family in Sao Paulo. She’s the housekeeper, cleaner, cook, gardener and even pool boy, yet she’s practically invisible to her employers Barbara and Carlos until they want something. Strangely enough she accepts their rather callous and off-hand treatment mainly because being there so long has allowed her to be de-facto mother for Fabinho the teenage son of the house who she has cared for since he was a very young boy.
There has however been a steep price to play as she had to leave her own daughter back home with her sister as she could not afford to raise her without this job. In fact Val hasn’t seen Jessica for ten years now so when she gets a phone call out of the blue from her daughter saying that she wants to go to University in Sao Paolo and live with her, she is overjoyed. Jessica is not quite so thrilled though when she actually arrives to discover that she is expected to sleep on a mattress in her mother’s small room in her employers house. She inveigles Carlos into letting her use the family guest room instead and is soon dining with them, eating up all of Fabinho’s favorite ice-cream and even taking dips in the pool. Val is livid at this total disregard to the rules of how a servant should behave, and even Barbara who was all warmth and smiles at first, soon loses her patience when it is obvious that the young girl is taking liberties with them.
Jessica is bright and well-educated (she gets accepted into University when Fabrinho doesn’t) and she is not prepared to be treated any less than equal than the family and despairs of her mother’s insistence at being subservient especially when it is obvious that her employers are taking advantage of her. In fact Carlos who is a stay-at-home husband also wants to take advantage of Jessica too, but in a totally different way.
What makes this drama such a sheer joy is that the part of Val is played Regina Casé a veteran Brazilian TV star, who has such a delicious sense of comic timing as she tries to cajole and control her stubborn daughter whilst falling over backwards to try and keep her un-grateful employers happy. It’s a wonderfully thrilling performance as Casé is masterful at being so mischievously funny with her re-actions to both the bad behavior of her daughter and the family. She is a hard act to follow but newcomer Camila Márdila as Valerie can certainly hold her own and for her performance she ended up sharing a Best Actress Award with Casé at Sundance for her efforts.
Written and directed by Anna Muylaert (‘The Year My Parents Went on Vacation’) who is shrewd enough to ensure that there is a happy ending to this tale as it is obvious that a woman as sharp as Val knows when it is time to stop being used. She eventually will actually get on with the much delayed role of being a first mother and not just the second one she has put up with for all these years.
A captivating wee gem of a movie which was Brazil’s official submission for Best Foreign Picture Oscar.
