The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao

Irresistible and epically portrayed emotional bomb full of unbelievable Rio environments and marvelous events. Brazil’s Oscar pick and winner of Un Certain Regard at Cannes.

Euridice and Guida love each other so much. But these sisters who yearn for freedom become separated and are forced to live parallel lives without knowing about each another, after their thirst for life collides with the patriarchal family values of Brazil in the fifties. Karim Ainouz’s dramatic and earnest film adaptation of Martha Batalha’s acclaimed novel met resistance domestically, but has been loved and praised at festivals across the world. Rio de Janeiro has rarely looked so beautiful, sensuous or sad as in Hélène Louvart’s cinematographic work on this melodrama that mixes family drama with Chopin, Liszt and a wallop of societal critique.

• Jonas Holmberg