This film is part of Rentals
The Second Mother
A maid for a rich São Paulo family is allowed to take her provincial teenage daughter into the household, but tensions quickly surface between her old and new lives.
Director: Anna Muylaert
Overview
Val is a maid at a rich São Paulo household, diligently working hard each week to send money back to her daughter on the other side of Brazil. One day the daughter, Jéssica, unexpectedly arrives in the city asking to stay while she sits a University exam.
The family accept, but tensions quickly surface as Jéssica’s lifestyle sits at odds with her bourgeois surroundings. While Val finds herself torn between the demands of her biological daughter and those of Fabinho, the surrogate son to whom she’s become strongly attached. Widely admired since its debut at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, Anna Muylaert’s film mixes warm comedy and subtle drama while adroitly commenting on the social schisms emerging in a rapidly changing Brazil.
strong languageRelated
Girls Will Be Girls Girls Will Be Girls
Drama 2024 119 mins Director: Shuchi Talati
Teenage romance simmers in a strict Himalayan boarding school in this sublime coming-of-age tale. Winner of a 2024 Sundance audience award
The Goldman Case The Goldman Case
Drama 2023 116 mins Director: Cédric Kahn
Gripping courtroom drama based on the explosive 1976 murder trial of French political activist, Pierre Goldman.
In Camera In Camera
Drama 2024 95 mins Director: Naqqash Khalid
A struggling actor faces relentless knockbacks in Naqqash Khalid’s sharp-witted comment on race and identity in the film industry.
Kneecap Kneecap
Drama 2024 105 mins Director: Rich Peppiatt
Fantastically outlandish biopic about the anarchic Belfast rap trio and their fight to save the Irish language.
Tracks Tracks
Biopic 2014 113 mins Director: John Curran
Mia Wasikowska stars in this inspirational true story about one woman’s extraordinary odyssey through the Australian Outback.
Dark Waters Dark Waters
Biopic 2019 126 mins Director: Todd Haynes
Mark Ruffalo plays an attorney trying to uncover the corporate scandal of a chemical company poisoning a local community, in this searching ecological drama from Todd Haynes (Safe, Carol).
Man With a Movie Camera Man With a Movie Camera
Documentary 1929 67 mins Silent Director: Dziga Vertov
Dazzling document of Soviet life, by Dziga Vertov, showing a living city and the people and machines that propel it.
Au hasard Balthazar Au hasard Balthazar
Drama 1966 95 mins Director: Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson’s pared-down style elicits extraordinary pathos from this devastating tale of an abused donkey passing from owner to owner.
The Battle of Algiers The Battle of Algiers
Drama 1966 121 mins Director: Gillo Pontecorvo
Gillo Pontecorvo’s masterpiece about the last years of French colonial rule in Algeria, seen from the perspective of both the revolutionaries and the French authorities.
The Passion of Joan of Arc The Passion of Joan of Arc
Biopic 1928 80 mins Silent Director: Carl Th. Dreyer
An incontestable masterpiece of silent cinema, Carl Dreyer's deeply moving biopic features one of the most powerful performances ever captured on film.
Tokyo Story Tokyo Story
Drama 1953 136 mins Director: Yasujirō Ozu
A constant fixture in critics' polls, Yasujirō Ozu's most enduring masterpiece is a beautifully nuanced exploration of filial duty, expectation and regret.
Rams Rams
Drama 2015 92 mins Director: Grímur Hákonarson
Cannes prize-winning Icelandic drama about two estranged sheep-farming brothers who come together following a deadly disease outbreak.
Timestalker Timestalker
Comedy 2024 89 mins Director: Alice Lowe
Alice Lowe's time-jumping fantasy rom-com is a colourful, darkly funny treat.
South: Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic South: Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic
Documentary 1919 81 mins Silent Director: Frank Hurley
An extraordinary story of survival in the wastes of Antarctica.
Night Courier (Mandoob) Night Courier (Mandoob)
Comedy 2023 112 mins Director: Ali Kalthami
A desperate delivery driver gets caught up in the dark underworld of Riyadh in Ali Kalthami’s gripping, pitch-black satire.
The Ballymurphy Precedent The Ballymurphy Precedent
Documentary 2018 108 mins Director: Callum Macrae
John Pilger's film on the conflict in Northern Ireland is a skilful mix of investigative journalism, documentary storytelling and reflections on contemporary history.
Utopia Utopia
Documentary 2013 111 mins Director: John Pilger and Alan Lowery
John Pilger's portrayal of the oldest continuous human culture is also an investigation into a suppressed colonial past, and rapacious present.
The Coming War on China The Coming War on China
Documentary 2016 113 mins Director: John Pilger
John Pilger’s prescient 60th film for ITV is both a warning and an inspiring story of resistance.