Aquarius (film)

Aquarius is a 2016 Brazilian–French drama film written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and starring Sonia Braga as Clara, the last resident of Aquarius building, who refuses to sell her apartment to a construction company that intends to replace it with a new edifice. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.[2][3]

Aquarius
Film poster
Directed byKleber Mendonça Filho
Produced bySaïd Ben Saïd
Emilie Lesclaux
Michel Merkt
Written byKleber Mendonça Filho
StarringSônia Braga
CinematographyPedro Sotero
Fabricio Tadeu
Edited byEduardo Serrano
Release date
  • 17 May 2016 (2016-05-17) (Cannes)
  • 1 September 2016 (2016-09-01) (Brazil)
Running time
140 minutes
CountryBrazil
France
LanguagePortuguese
Box office$1.1 million[1]

The film generated uproar in Brazil due to its political connotations, especially because it was released at the apex of the country's political crisis. The film's cast and crew actively positioned itself against what they considered to be a coup d'état in Brazil, showing protest signs at Cannes.[4]

A number of controversies were raised over the film, including its nonselection as the country's entry to the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards by the Ministry of Culture’s committee,[5] which has been seen as a supposed act of retaliation by Brazil's new government.[6]

It was nominated for several awards, including the Independent Spirit Award for Best International Film and the César Award for Best Foreign Film. The film was included in a number of critics' lists of best films of the year, including from Sight & Sound, Cahiers du cinéma and The New York Times.

Plot

In 1979, Clara (Bárbara Colen) and her family celebrates her aunts birthday at the Aquarius apartment building in Recife after overcoming a breast cancer that cost her right breast. In 2016, Clara (Sônia Braga), now a retired journalist and writer, is still living in the same apartment, but alone, since her husband died 17 years before and her three children have moved out. Her only constant company is her maid Ladjane (Zoraide Coleto).

She refuses to accept a buy-out from Geraldo (Fernando Teixeira), head of Bonfim, and a developing company that wishes to reclaim her apartment in order to replace the old building with a larger and homonymous edifice, even though all the other apartments are already vacant and despite her own children's advice to accept the offer.

The developers, especially the proprietor's grandson, American educated designer and head of the new Aquarius project Diego (Humberto Carrão), become frustrated with Clara's resistance and try to disturb her through a number of means, including throwing parties at the apartment right above hers and burning mattresses at the parking lot. Eventually, in an open argument, she berates Diego that education without decency amounts to nothing.

Clara starts digging up dirt on Bonfim through her contacts. Also, she learns from two former employees of the company that Diego ordered termite nests to be installed inside empty apartments to force Clara out. With the help of her friends Roberval (Irandhir Santos), a lifeguard, and Cleide Vieira (Carla Ribas), a lawyer, she breaks into some apartments and confirms they are swarming with termites.

Accompanied by her brother Antonio (Buda Lira), her nephew Tomás (Pedro Queiroz) and Cleide, she goes to Bonfim confront Diego and Geraldo over the dirty deeds and the termites.[5]

Cast
  • Sônia Braga as Dona Clara.
    • Bárbara Colen as younger Clara.
  • Humberto Carrão as Diego, the construction company representative.
  • Irandhir Santos as Roberval, a lifeguard.
  • Maeve Jinkings as Ana Paula, Clara's daughter.
  • Pedro Queiroz as Tomás, Clara's nephew.
  • Julia Bernat as Julia, Tomás's girlfriend.
  • Zoraide Coleto as Ladjane, Clara's housekeeper.

Reception

Critical reception

Aquarius currently holds a 97% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 109 reviews, with an average score of 8.14/10. On Metacritic, the film holds a 'Universal Acclaim' rating of 88, based on 22 reviews.

Peter Bradshaw, writing for The Guardian, awarded the film 4 stars out of five and called it "beautifully observed and surprising", "a richly detailed character study, immersing the audience in the life and mind of its imperious main character, Clara, who is addressed as 'Dona Clara', commandingly played by Sônia Braga", yet criticizing the film's ending.[7] Jay Weissberg, in Variety, compared the film to Mendonça Filho's previous project, Neighboring Sounds, calling it "a more subtle film but no less mature, a calmer film but no less angry", and strongly complimented Sonia Braga's acting and Mendonça Filho's directing skills.[8]

In Brazil, the film has engendered both standing ovations in cinema room and calls for boycotts.[5] Major newspapers Folha de S. Paulo and O Estado de S. Paulo both lauded the film, with the first declaring that Mendonça Filho possesses an "absurd mastery of cinema", praising his camera works and use of sound and music. The newspaper also praised the film for its bravery in discussing Brazilian social issues.[9] O Estado de S. Paulo declared that the film was "brilliant, a commendation to resistance" and "very pleasant to watch", while commenting on its submersion on political discussions.[10]

Accolades
Award/Festival Category Result
Cannes Film Festival[11][12]Palme d'OrNominated
Queer PalmNominated
Sydney Film Festival[13]Best FilmWon
Transatlantyk Festival[14]Best FilmWon
Jerusalem Film FestivalBest FilmNominated
Mar del Plata International Film Festival[15]Golden AstorNominated
Silver Astor - Best Actress for Sônia BragaWon
Audience AwardWon
ACCA Award Best International Film CompetitionWon
Lima Film Festival[16][17]Jury AwardWon
Best Actress for Sônia BragaWon
Munique International Film Festival[18]Best FilmNominated
Zurich Film Festival[19][20]Best Internacional FilmNominated
Independent Spirit Awards[21]Best International FilmNominated
San Diego Film Critics Society[22][23]Best Foreign Language FilmNominated
Best Female Actor for Sônia BragaWon
Havana Film Festival[24] Best Actress for Sônia Braga Won
42nd César Awards[25] Best Foreign Film Nominated
Cartagena Film Festival[26]Best FilmWon

Controversies

Aquarius has generated widespread controversies in Brazil and abroad. The film's political tone and its time of release have prompted public outcry, both of support and of criticism.

Protest at Cannes

During the first exhibition of Aquarius at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, the film's cast showed protest signs written in Portuguese, English and French criticising Brazil's political turmoil of the time. The signs read messages such as "Brazil is not a democracy anymore", "Sauvez la démocratie brésilienne" ("Save Brazilian democracy"), and "Dilma, vamos resistir com você" ("Dilma, we will resist with you"). Immediate internet response followed, with supporters of Dilma's impeachment suggesting boycotting the film. Among these, the right-wing columnist Reinaldo Azevedo wrote that "it is the duty of people of good will to boycott this film".[27] Aquarius distributing company then used this sentence in the film's promotional poster, along three other positive quotes, what has been understood as an act of subversion.[28]

Cinema protests

Aquarius was released in Brazil at the Festival de Gramado, when it provoked standing ovations and shouts of "Temer Out", a constant scream of protest in Brazil of those who criticize President Temer's controversial rise to power. After this, similar protests became common in Brazil at venues that exhibited the film.[29][30][31] Those protests were commonly observed during the film's ending credits, with critics of Temer's regime shouting command words suggesting that the president took over the country by means of a "coup".[32]

Film rating

Initially, the Ministry of Justice of Brazil gave Aquarius an 18 years old rating, attributed to sexual content and scenes of drug use.[33] However, the criteria used to support the rating were challenged on the grounds that Brazil was the only country in where Aquarius had or was going to distributed to give the film such a high rating and that other more graphic films in Brazil had received less restrictive ratings. Protest ensued and, at the day of the film's premiere, the Ministry reduced the rating to 16 years old.

gollark: There's ECC stuff available.
gollark: Previously you used to be able to identify the location of computers by ID if they were sending GPS pings, but that's anonymized now.
gollark: I also have a thing which integrates that with a reader thing for the Opus status broadcasts, so it can track a lot of information, and the location, of anyone using Opus on their neural interfaces.
gollark: You can use a bunch of modems in different positions and some code "borrowed" from GPS to trilaterate the sender of modem messages, which is neat. I have a thing for that.
gollark: SMT and ECNet?

References
  1. "Aquarius". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  2. "2016 Cannes Film Festival Announces Lineup". IndieWire. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  3. Debruge, Peter, and Elsa Keslassy. "Cannes 2016: Film Festival Unveils Official Selection Lineup". Variety. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  4. "'Brazil is not a democracy': Cannes contender's cast stage red carpet protest". Shoard, Catherine. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  5. Romero, Simon, "Brazilian Politics Smother a Film’s Oscar Ambitions", The New York Times, 27 September 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  6. "'Escolha de Pequeno Segredo para representar Brasil na corrida pelo Oscar é criticada por diretores". Figueiredo, João Victor. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  7. Bradshaw, Peter, "Aquarius review: rich and mysterious Brazilian story of societal disintegration", The Guardian. Retrieved on 2 October 2016.
  8. Weissberg, Jay, "Cannes Film Review: Aquarius", Variety. Retrieved on 2 October 2016.
  9. Butcher, Pedro, "Brasileiro volta a exibir domínio absurdo do cinema em 'Aquarius'" (in Portuguese), Folha de S. Paulo. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  10. Oricciho, Luiz Zanin, "Brilhante e polêmico, ‘Aquarius’ é um elogio à resistência", (in Portuguese), ‘’O Estado de S. Paulo’’. Retrieved on 2 October 2016.
  11. "'Aquarius' sai sem prêmio do Festival de Cannes". Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  12. "'Espaço LGBT no cinema vai crescer', diz jurado brasileiro da Queer Palm em Cannes" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  13. "'Aquarius', de Kleber Mendonça, leva principal prêmio do Festival de Sydney" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  14. "Filme pernambucano Aquarius vence festival na Polônia" (in Portuguese). Diario de Pernambuco. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  15. "Mar del Plata 2016: Todos los premios del festival" (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  16. "Na mira do Oscar, Sonia Braga ganha mais um prêmio por sua atuação em 'Aquarius". Caras. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  17. "Sônia Braga, "Aquarius" e "Boi Neon" são premiados no Festival de Cinema de Lima" (in Portuguese). Jornal Correio do Povo. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  18. "Dia do Cinema Brasileiro em festa com prêmio para Aquarius" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  19. "AQUARIUS - International Feature Film / Competition". Zurich Film Festival. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  20. "Olivier Assayas honored at the Zurich Film Festival" (in French). Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  21. "'Aquarius' é indicado ao Spirit Awards, premiação independente dos EUA" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  22. "2016 San Diego Film Critics Society's Award Nominations". 9 December 2016. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  23. "San Diego Film Critics Society's 2016 Award Winners". 12 December 2016. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  24. Sonia Braga leva prêmio de melhor atriz por 'Aquarius' no Festival de Havana
  25. Tartaglione, Nancy (24 January 2017). "César Awards Nominations: Verhoeven's 'Elle,' Ozon's 'Frantz' In The Lead". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  26. "Mira los ganadores de la edición 57 de FICCI" (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  27. Azevedo, Reinaldo, "Assim que "Aquarius" estrear no Brasil, o dever das pessoas de bem é boicotá-lo. Que os esquerdistas garantam a bilheteria", ‘’Veja’’, 18 de maio de 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2016. (in Portuguese).
  28. "Aquarius provoca Reinaldo Azevedo, que responde em seu blog". UOL. 6 September 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  29. ""Aquarius", com Sonia Braga, bate 100 mil espectadores em uma semana". UOL (in Portuguese). 5 September 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  30. Silva, Paulo Henrique, "Público de BH se manifesta em sessões de 'Aquarius'", Hoje em Dia, 6 September 2016 |language=Portuguese. Retrieved 2 October 2016
  31. "Sessão de "Aquarius" no São Luiz termina com gritos de "Fora Temer"". Folha de Pernambuco (in Portuguese). 1 September 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  32. "Créditos finais do filme Aquarius têm indireta política". JCOnline (in Portuguese). 2 September 2016. Archived from the original on 7 October 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  33. "Filme "Aquarius" recebe classificação indicativa polêmica". Zero Hora. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
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