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Referenced in Close-Up: Why Do We Need a Venice Film Festival?
Scenario
A woman married to a prominent politician during Brazil’s military dictatorship is forced to reinvent herself and chart a new path for herself and her children after her family’s life is affected by a violent and arbitrary act. Fernanda Montenegro and Walter Salles’ first collaboration 26 years after the release of Glavni kolodvor (1998), for which Montenegro was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress. Fernanda Torres and Salles previously collaborated on Terra Estrangeira (1995) and O Primeiro Dia (1998). (2024).
A Festa do Santo Reis Written by Léo Maia (as Marcio Leonardo) Starring Tim Maia
“I’m Still Here” goes beyond just another film about military dictatorship, offering a humane, intense and brutally intimate portrait of a family falling apart under overwhelming and uncontrollable forces. Walter Salles, with his raw style and unparalleled sensitivity, returns to the theme of a country immersed in repression, but instead of focusing on major political events, he focuses on their consequences within homes and personal lives. By centering the story on family drama, Salles subverts the expectations of a traditional historical film, avoiding documentary tones or a broad, structural focus. Here, 1970s Brazil is felt through the struggles of the Paiva family and, in the painful details of their shared wounds, Salles portrays the scars left by a dictatorship that, although distorted in collective memory, remains alive in the lives it destroyed.
Family dinners and memories of walks on the beach become painful when revisited after Rubens’s passing, as they reveal the empty space left by systemic violence
The choice to center the narrative through the perspective of Eunice – played by the iconic Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro – gives the film an undeniable authenticity. As she copes with the loss of her husband, Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello), a public figure and defender of people’s rights, Eunice needs to keep her family together and her children’s emotional stability. Eunice is the pure embodiment of resilience and maternal love, and her daily routines, rituals with her children, and shared moments as a family are pieces of a once ordinary life, now shattered by an abrupt absence. Salles skillfully uses this family intimacy to show how dictatorship destroys emotional bonds and disrupts the peace of each home, leading the audience to reflect on how history is also shaped by losses and moments of silence in everyday life.
Fernanda Torres’ performance is intensely praiseworthy
She embodies a woman who refuses to let grief immobilize her, balancing the protection of her children with the endless search for answers about her husband’s whereabouts. This balance between strength and vulnerability gives Eunice a surprising and essential presence in the film. In a moving and remarkably mature performance, Montenegro, as the older Eunice, intensifies the impact of Rubens’ absence, bringing a heavy, almost physical silence that resonates with those who never had the chance to say goodbye. Montenegro and Torres’ real-life relationship as mother and daughter adds authenticity to the transitions in time, making Eunice’s portrait all the more sincere and believable.
The use of tight spaces and close-ups reveals the characters’ personalities
This genuine continuity allows Salles’ film to transcend mere fiction and reach a depth that only a personal story can achieve. Technically, the film is a visual achievement that captures the intimate pain of this family through meticulously crafted cinematography. physical and psychological confinement, mirroring the oppression that looms over their lives. The soundtrack accompanies the most emotional scenes with an almost mystical quality, blending with the characters’ feelings like a whisper that holds back the pain of the past.