Seen at...
Don't Call Me Son
Original Title
Mãe só há uma- Director: Anna Muylaert
- Writer: Anna Muylaert
- Producer: Maria Ionescu; Anna Muylaert
CGiii Comment
A magnificent piece of work...complex beyond imagination.
When the overjoyed meet the overwhelmed...there are fine-lines [to be crossed] and hair-triggers [to be pulled] in this emotional minefield. But...there aren't any explosions even with an errant step.
Anna Muylaert controls everything perfectly...from the transference of values to reluctant acceptance...there are even moments of disassociated and unexpected tenderness.
And, throughout, the same question keeps rattling around in you mind, almost nagging: What would I do? Well...that all depends...on whose shoes you're most likely to fill!
Then...there's the explosion...followed by association that oozes tenderness.
A film that will elicit many analytical conversations...
Complexity done this simply is nothing short of a masterstroke. Anna Muylaert is a rare filmmaker...brave, bold and [extremely] clever.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Pierre is seventeen and in the middle of puberty. He plays in a band, has sex at parties and secretly tries on women’s clothing and lipstick in front of a mirror. Ever since his father’s death, his mother Aracy has looked after him and his younger sister Jacqueline, spoiling them both. But when he discovers that she stole him from a hospital when he was a new born baby, Pierre’s life changes dramatically. Overnight, his world falls apart and his mother Aracy is arrested. His biological parents Gloria and Matheus have spent seventeen years searching for him; they are now desperate to make up for the lost years and spend time with their eldest son, whom they call Felipe. Observed from a critical distance by his younger brother Joca, Pierre/Felipe moves in with his well-heeled new family, who are determined to mould him according to their ideals. But Pierre has his own designs for his life.
Director Anna Muylaert won the Panorama Audience Award in 2015 for Que horas ela volta? (The Second Mother). In her new work she explores the mother-child relationship through the eyes of a rebellious son whose whole world unravels overnight.
Cast & Characters
Naomi Nero as Pierre / Felipe;
Daniel Botelho as Joca;
Daniela Nefussi as Aracy / Glória;
Matheus Nachtergaele as Matheus;
Lais Dias as Jaqueline;
Luciana Paes as Tia Yara;
Helena Albergaria as Sueli;
Luciano Bortoluzzi as Marcelo;
June Dantas as Walmissa;
Renan Tenca as René