Below, please find the following breaks

for The Second Mother:

JasonSolomons.com -- Sept. 17th --

Positive review (included in his top
five)
http://www.jasonsolomons.com/the-
second-mother-review/

Awards Daily -- Sept. 17th -- "Best

Actress: Women of All Ages in the
Conversation" by Sasha Stone --
Regina Casé mention
http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2015
/09/women-of-all-ages-in-the-
conversation/

BrianOrndorf.com -- Sept. 7th --

Positive review (9 out of 10 stars)
http://www.brianorndorf.com/2015/09/film-review-the-second-
mother.html

---------------------------

http://www.jasonsolomons.com/the-
second-mother-review/
JASON'S TOP FIVE, MOVIE REVIEW S
THE SECOND
MOTHER

This Brazilian gem is just lovely. Everyone’s got maids in

Brazil. You don’t even have to be particularly wealthy or
posh. It’s just, you know, a thing, where the maid lives in
and works around the house and sort of brings up the kids
like they were her own.

But it’s also an unspoken thing. People don’t care to go

too deep on the subject. Fernando Mereilles, who made
City of God, previously made a film called Maids that
looked at this societal situation and it was considered a bit
risky. But every Brazilian director you speak to was raised
by a maid (Fernando, Walter Salles, whoever – it’s just
how it is.)
But now here comes The Second Mother (When Is She
Coming Home? is a more literal translation of the
Portuguese title), about a maid, Val (the wonderful Regina
Case) who lives with a reasonably well-off Sao Paolo
family in the suburb of Morumbi.

Her daughter, Jessica, arrives from the provinces (the

north-east is what they say, but from the clues in the film, it
could be anywhere from Recife to Natal or Fortaleza) to
study for an entrance exam to a prestigious architecture
school. Does the daughter of a maid have the right, the
brains, the moxy to even think about getting into such a
top school?

This subtle twist in the system upsets the household.

Jessica (Camilla Mardilla) doesn’t want to squeeze into
her long-absent mother’s bedroom but would rather stay in
the chi-chi guest room. The father of the house is up for it,
as is the son Fabinho, who is cosseted by Val far more
than by his haughty media-starlet Mum, Val’s boss – as
she never ceases to remind us.

Jessica’s arrival overturns everything, very quietly but

quickly. She questions her own mother’s sacrifice having
left her own family behind in the countryside and her
mentality in suffering the orders of the family, and the
boundaries – what cutlery to use, which door to stay
behind, which ice cream to eat from the fridge.

Directed by Anna Muylaert in collaboration with Case (they

co-wrote the script) gives us a marvellous insight into the
fragilities of a society’s thin lines, the unmentioned borders
and behaviours. But more than anything, the film’s heart
beat to Case’s lovely performance, which beats with that
of a mother torn between regret and rectitude, and
suddenly presented with a chance to change it all.

It’s a film of hope, defiance and challenge. There’s smart

use of the city’s architecture and unreadable gradations.
Simply: a delight.
---------------------------
http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2015/09/women-of-all-ages-in-the-
conversation/

Best Actress:
Women of All
Ages in the
Conversation
By

Sasha Stone
@awardsdaily
Sep 17, 2015
27 Comments
Cate Blanchett already has one Oscar worthy performance
this year in Todd Haynes’ brilliant Carol. She will be now
competing against herself with her performance as Mary
Mapes in James’ Vanderbilt’s excellent new film, Truth. The
way Michael Fassbender owns Steve Jobs, so does
Blanchett embody Mapes — fiery and complicated, at the
top of her game. Can Blanchett win a second Oscar so
soon? It’s hard to say. There should be no doubt, however,
that her performance will likely soar to the top of the list
the moment anyone sees her Mary Mapes.

At a time when there are fewer films that feature seasoned

actresses who are over 40, Hollywood almost always tends
to want to go younger and younger with them. Look at this
Dave Karger tweet:

While that’s probably close to true, it’s depressing to look

at it like that, especially with performances like Lily Tomlin
in Grandma, Charlotte Rampling in 45 Years, Charlize
Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road, Sandra Bullock in Our
Brand is Crisis, and of course, Cate Blanchett in Carol and
Truth. We already know Oscar voters like to choose young
women but older men. They like pretty, fuckable women,
but men who aren’t pretty. It is one of the biggest and
most glaring standards for actresses, the reason being
there’s very little industry regard for older actresses if all
Hollywood and the Oscars want are younger actresses.
Audiences certainly don’t feel that way – not with Helen
Mirren, Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin making a lot more
money at the box office than anyone anticipated.
Making matters worse, many bloggers are urging
supporting performances “go lead,” which will also tip the
scales against the veterans in favor of other younger
actresses like Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl.
Rampling, Theron and Blanchett deliver performances that
come from not just learning to become great actors, but
also from bringing their life experiences to those
performances. No offense intended against younger
actresses but doesn’t it seem more logical to give awards to
those who have accomplished something after years of
hard work as opposed to those who are on their way up? I
don’t think Hollywood sees it this way, not where women
are concerned. They want a fresh plate of meat each year.
Or so their stats would seem to back up. We know that
women in their 40s, 50s and 60s have a much harder time
winning, or even being nominated, for Oscars. I think this
is creating a wasteful, disposable culture in American film
that robs powerful women of their power. Frances
McDormand, Susan Sarandon, Viola Davis — just three
examples of older actresses who don’t get enough work
and are still every bit as vital as they’ve always been.
But let’s get back to this year.
What is most exciting about Truth and Carol is that they
demonstrate how great films can be when women are given
more to do than prop up, turn on, or bitch at the male
characters. For Truth, Vanderbilt deliberately chose to tell a
story with a woman at the center — and not just any
woman. He focused on one of the most powerful,
intelligent, kick-ass news producers in the business, and
detailed her demise at the hands of the Bush
administration, its corporate lackeys, and a cowardly
network that would rather kowtow to hysterical right-wing
bloggers than stand by its reporters and its lead anchor,
Dan Rather. Blanchett is mesmerizing as Mapes. She has
the emotional complexity of Holly Hunter in Broadcast
News, the steely resolve of ethical journalist Robert
Redford in All the President’s Men, and gets to savage the
opposition the way Al Pacino does in The Insider. She has
a scene like that great “The cat TOTALLY OUT OF THE
BAG.” Both The Insider and Truth are about CBS and 60
Minutes. Both are about the fight between journalistic
ethics and bowing to corporate overlords (guess who wins
that contest?) and both are brilliant ensemble pieces about
chasing down a story. But Truth is a different film from
The Insider and shouldn’t be compared to it except in the
way that CBS took a cowardly stance and will now have to
eat shit about it.
Blanchett is the kind of actress who evolves with each new
performance. Even this year, with Carol and Truth you see
two very different performances, two very different
characters but each with a strong center — identities
wriggling to be free amid circumstances and circles that
throw doubt on her motives, underestimate what she can
do, and question who she is. I haven’t seen a better
performance by any female all year than Blanchett’s in
Truth.
Lily Tomlin has the hard job of carrying a film that was
literally written FOR her. She plays a cantankerous old
lesbian whose granddaughter needs money for an abortion.
Instead of turning the quest into a liberal screed that
demands women have the same rights as men in deciding
what is best for their bodies — although that part is hard
to ignore — Grandma, instead, dives deep into the
character of this woman. Her past. Her loves. Her own
grieving. I am still reeling from the idea that someone out
there (Paul Weitz) had the heroic notion of making this
movie at all. How do you explain to people: “Oh, she won’t
get in because she isn’t young and fresh enough.” How do
you explain the peculiarities of voters? You can’t, really. It
is what it is.
Charlotte Rampling in 45 Years could be the role that
finally earns her an Oscar nod. Again, whose idea was it to
make a whole movie about an old woman figuring out what
he entire life has been about? My god, is this 2015 or what?
Women, especially those of a certain ago, are supposed to
be exiled to television — far out of site from men who
grapple with erection pills and ticket buying audience that
just keeps getting younger. And yet, here is a film that
appears to be dazzling young male critics. It’s kind of
amazing. Rampling gives such a tender, moving
performance as Kate. When I remember back on this year
I surely won’t forget Rampling’s face as it searches the face
of her husband looking for the truth. When the truth
finally lands? It hits hard.
Charlize Theron plays arguably the most talked about film
character of the year, at least so far. Sure, maybe that
doesn’t mean much to Oscar voters, but Theron is tough, a
leader and a far better shot than her co-star, Tom Hardy.
But if that was all there was to her performance it wouldn’t
be so memorable. It’s rather the deep pain of what’s
happened to humanity that bleats behind her sorrowful
eyes. Like the other actresses on this list she carries Fury
Road almost completely. That is, she’s the most exciting
thing in it and considering the cast, that’s saying a lot.
Regina Casé in The Second Mother is another remarkable
turn in a film that will likely be shut out of the acting race.
It’s hard to break into the major Best Actress race with a
foreign language film. But that shouldn’t prevent us from
praising that great great performance. Case manages so
many different levels of emotion here — conveys feeling
awkward around both her employers and then around her
daughter. She does it all without being self-pitying in the
least — and is actually quite funny. The Second Mother is
so much about being young vs. being older and is a film
everyone should see.
Another role of note, Julianne Moore in Freeheld, which I
have not seen.

But yes, the Oscar race will probably not be about any of
these magnificent women but will instead give the edge to
the younger actresses. It’s hard to complain about anything
in a year with so many great roles for women, both older
and younger. So as for the new generation, our
frontrunners become:

Brie Larson in Room is another standout this year. As a

mother trapped in a tiny space with her young child,
Larson has to be two people. She has to be the young
woman kidnapped and regularly assaulted by her kidnapper
(a typical loser), and she has to be the mother and role
model for her young son. We all know as moms that we
have to put on the mom face. We have to. We have to hide
some of the truth of things. We have to nurture, protect,
teach, instruct and eventually inspire. We get all of the
credit and we get all of the blame. Larson, not a mother
herself in real life, surely had the right kind of relationship
with her own mother in order to really get that. Since the
film unfolds from the child’s point of view, what Larson
does is even more remarkable. It’s as though she’s having a
silent conversation with the audience. We’re let in and shut
out at key moments. We love her, we hate her. Eventually,
if nothing else, we understand her.

Carey Mulligan in Suffragette and Far from the Madding

Crowd. Probably Suffragette is going to be the ticket for
Mulligan who is just phenomenal in the role, particularly
since the camera is so close in on her face the entire time.
She holds on tight to everything she’s been brought up to
believe about a woman’s role in the home. As it dawns on
her that she has no rights, no power and no path out of a
trap, she begins to develop the strength to fight back. It is a
subtle shift for Mulligan but gives her a chance to show us
what she can really do when given great material.

Saoirse Ronan in Brooklyn. This is supposed to be a

wonderful film all around (I’m seeing it tomorrow) and
Ronan’s performance is said to be beyond anything she’s
ever done. Of her performance, Gregory Elwood said,
“The Oscar nominee delicately maps out Eilis’ growth
from sheltered small-town Irish girl to an independent and
sophisticated metropolitan woman. And when Eilis has
tough choices in front of her, the tears flow and they flow
in buckets, but Ronan never lets these moments ring as
anything but true.”

Emily Blunt in Sicario. Blunt plays a tough-as-nails FBI

investigator who is tracking the leader of a drug cartel.
Blunt is one of those actresses who is always so good but
has never been given an entire movie to carry on her own.
She comes close here, and is really good at playing both
tough and vulnerable. Like many of the roles already
mentioned, Blunt’s is a representation of a strong, capable
woman, not just a gazing supporting character and is
certainly one of the best performances of the year.

The big performance everyone is waiting to see is Jennifer

Lawrence, who at last earned a lead role from David O.
Russell in Joy. She won for Silver Linings Playbook, was
nominated for American Hustle, and will likely, at the very
least, be nominated for Joy. She is on a winning streak for
sure — the sky’s still the limit.

If these are the names that we are going to be working

with, it is hard to say how Best Actress will go. But you can
never go wrong in following Dave Karger’s predictions. I
hope that it isn’t just younger actresses, not in a year with
so many vets turning in such astonishing work. Alas.

If I had to predict Best Actress right now I think I would

order them this way, in terms of likelihood of being
nominated.

1. Cate Blanchett, Truth
2. Brie Larson, Room
3. Carey

Mulligan, Suffragette
4. Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn
5.
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
6. Charlize Theron, Mad Max:
Fury Road
7. Lily Tomlin, Grandma
8. Sandra Bullock,
Our Brand is Crisis
9. Emily Blunt, Sicario
10. Charlotte
Rampling, 45 Years

So, in the end, it looks as though Dave Karger is probably

going to be right — that all but one of the Best Actress
contenders will be under 30.
---------------------------
http://www.brianorndorf.com/2015/09/film-review-the-second-
mother.html

The Second Mot

her Preview
Preview by Brian
Orndorf, September 7,
2015

9 / 10

“The Second Mother” looks at the emotional

impact of housemaid and nanny work, exploring
one woman’s experience as her professional and
private lives meet for the first time, causing all
sorts of chaos. It’s a Brazilian picture with
enormous personality and a deep understanding of
the employer/employee relationship. It’s light
when it chooses to be, but “The Second Mother” is
crafty with a few comedic asides, generating a
pleasant sense of misdirection, allowing the rest of
this finely crafted, patient, and exceptionally
performed movie to emerge from unexpected
places, identifying the cost of personal sacrifice
with outstanding precision.

In Sao Paulo, Val (Regina Case) is a housemaid

who’s worked with style guru Barbara (Karine
Teles) for decades, helping to raise young Fabinho
(Michel Joelsas) since he was a little boy. Living a
routine life on her own, immersed in daily work
and the comfort she provides the teenage boy, Val
is surprised to learn that Jessica (Camila Mardila),
her estranged daughter, is looking for a place to
stay as he attempts to enroll in a prestigious
college nearby. Excited to be in her child’s
presence once again after a decade apart due to
financial woes and custody worries, Val welcomes
Jessica into Barbara’s home, only to watch the
young woman treat the property as her own,
joining family business and bonding with Fabinho’s
father, Carlos (Lourenco Mutarelli). Mortified by
Jessica’s forward behavior, Val attempts to curb
such fantasy, dredging up longstanding hostilities
and fears shared by the mother and daughter.

“The Second Mother” opens with an example of

Val’s history with Barbara’s family, finding the
housemaid poolside with Fabinho, invested fully in
his safety and comfort while Jessica remains in a
far away town, divorced from her mother’s
influence. The story picks up a decade later,
watching Val continue her intimate relationship
with Fabinho, comforting him playfully as she
tends to the daily business of chores, keeping her
busy and controlled by Barbara. Gifted
writer/director Anna Muylaert returns to Val’s
clouded headspace throughout the picture, finding
the housemaid situated between her emotional
connection to the family and her employment
status. She’s aware of boundaries, but seems
frustrated by them, trying to please Barbara with
obedience while remaining the rock her teenage
son relies on out of habit.

There’s domestic complexity in “The Second

Mother” that Muylaert mines beautifully,
introducing Jessica as a figure of disruption,
challenging Val by pushing her presence on
Barbara’s household, which evolves into an
extended stay in the guest room and abuse of
kitchen time. There’s tension between Val and
Jessica, brought on by their prolonged
estrangement, but the screenplay doesn’t delve
right into their antagonisms. Instead, the drama
drips along, eventually filling the feature with
hostility as Jessica becomes a part of her host
family, eventually triggering interest from Carlos,
who’s found a younger woman with a similar
passion for design and art, temporarily freeing him
from a dead marriage. As the days pass, tensions
tighten, watching Barbara lose patience with
pleasantries, while Val realizes that she doesn’t
have a shot at controlling Jessica’s disobedience
and suggestions of class injustice, finally exposing
a history of pain the pair have avoided confronting
for years.

“The Second Mother” enjoys a naturalistic

approach, with Muylaert wisely electing to simply
capture her outstanding cast in motion, with
particular attention to Case, who delivers a
spirited, nuanced performance, communicating
everything about Val in minimal moves. The
screenplay is also interested in perceived power
plays, finding Jessica disturbed by her mother’s
habitual compliance, sensing a bulging dysfunction
that Val isn’t willing to address as she sorts out her
authority with two different realities. “The Second
Mother” is smart and fresh, taking on
uncomfortable moments and subtle shifts in
tonality with complete ease, and it also manages
to hit hard as a drama, developing into a tale of
catharsis by the end, earning its sincerity. This is a
wonderful picture, and while it sustains a social
and familial point of view, brilliantly massaging
charged encounters, it’s also a feature that’s a joy
to simply watch unfold, observing fully realized
characters come to life.
--
Sydney Tanigawa
Publicity, Oscilloscope Laboratories
511 Canal St., Ste. 5E
New York, NY 10013

(212) 219-4029 ext. 41

http://www.oscilloscope.net/