"As Meninas" ("The Girls") is a greatly acted drama set during the hard years of the military regime, presenting the story of three young women
living in a Catholic nuns boardhouse facing their personal dilemas and also hearing the echoes of a difficult social/political scenario. Despite being in
their early 20's, the girls from the title seem trapped within their younger years, with each of them having great dreams, great aspirations or trying to
avoid the problems from their past and present scenario. It almost feels like a coming of age movie, as they're all coming to a point in life where they
need to change and improve their lives, leave all the childish idealisms and dreams behind, and accept the present dark reality - maybe there's hope ahead.
The year is 1971 and during a major strike that shuts down many institutions, the women stay within the boarding house. Lorena (Adriana Esteves),
who does not leave the place at all, and best friends Lia (Drica Moraes), an idealist woman involved with the armed fight and whose partner in love and crime is
arrested and tortured; and the beautiful model Ana Clara (Cláudia Liz), who spends her days doing hard drugs, delivered by her drug
dealer boyfriend (Eduardo Felipe).
The trio have their own issues to be solved and their moments together go between sharing nostalgic memories and some hard conversations.
The world is collapsing around them with stories of arrests, kidnapping and disappearances during the regime, but within those walls and inside those rooms
they concerned about a sense of direction in their lives. The serious Lia is the one more in touch with the reality of the period, as she's part of a guerilla
movement and she's completely anxious about her imprisoned boyfriend situation, if he'll ever survive in prison or be released or worst; Lorena's dilema
revolves on expressing her love to a doctor (Henri Pagnocelli), a married man that was a father figure during her childhood after the accidental death of
her brother. She has high hopes about him and after years of dreaming about him she decides it's time to declare her love, a very childish notion.
As for the model, in between photo sessions and intimate moments with her boyfriend, she goes on a self-destructive act trying to erase some traumas but also dreaming (more like provoking
her man) of marrying a mysterious man that it's hard to tell if he exists or not. He'll make her happy, fulfilled and all past problems will fade away. The three women feel like a metaphor of time: Lorena (the future), Lia (the present) and Ana (the past). Will they ever change?
More than just a quiet observation of a tense period as seen through the optic of three different women and outside of the usual presentation of
violence and tragedy of films on the topic, "As Meninas" offers a reflective view of a period as translated through the women's lives. It's about the loss
of innocence of the 1960's and the part acceptance/part reluctance of dealing with the darker times of the 1970's, with the many changes in society, politics,
culture, music, women's liberation, etc., and how the dreamy ideals of freedom, love and success seemed to depend on a difficult sacrifices and abandonment.
And the questions are if they're willing to pay the price, if they can let go of some memories, and/or if they can sacrifice whatever they love (a person, a
country, an ideal they followed) in order to simply live and survive. The tough questions and decisions of youth aren't easily answered, but it's all up there
for them to find out for themselves, and maybe with the help of each other.
It comes off as a quite good film but not as great as I think it could be. I cannot compare with the acclaimed novel written by Lygia Fagundes Telles, as
I haven't read it - though I've read other works and she was a great author that knew how to involve readers with descriptions and dialogues in an almost
filmic manner. The film screenplay written by David Neves (a passion project of his but he passed away before the film's release) and the direction of
Emiliano Ribeiro makes things a little enigmatic, without a fully proper presentation - dialogue and editing get affected at parts and I couldn't figure out
exactly the dark flashbacks revolving the model Ana (was she attacked by a man who hired her or she was a victim of the military?). The great merits of
"As Meninas" comes with the ensemble cast performances (Adriana and Drica are impecable), that also includes the special appearances of Otávio Augusto,
Breno Moroni, and Ester Góes playing the neurotic middle-aged mother of Lorena and who refuses to accept her age and is terrified of her abusive
husband; and merit to the story authenticity and ideals, both for the period covered and the psychological representation of many different women, with
their joys, sorrows, loves, ideals, dreams, fears and hopes. You can see a lot of depth about them and ignore some of the cliches. 7/10.
