Aquarius
- 2016
- Tous publics
- 2h 26m
Clara, 65, lives her life to the fullest with her family and friends. A construction company wants her Recife oceanfront condo, as they've already bought all the other in the 3 story buildin... Read allClara, 65, lives her life to the fullest with her family and friends. A construction company wants her Recife oceanfront condo, as they've already bought all the other in the 3 story building. Clara's staying.Clara, 65, lives her life to the fullest with her family and friends. A construction company wants her Recife oceanfront condo, as they've already bought all the other in the 3 story building. Clara's staying.
- Director
- Writer
- Stars
- Awards
- 47 wins & 48 nominations total
- Fátima
- (as Paula de Renor)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
Aquarius tells the story of a retired music critic who is the last resident of the titular building that happens to have a rich history. The plot follows her life & a chain of events that are set in motion when she refuses to sell her apartment to the construction company which already owns the rest of the old building and intends to replace it with a new one.
Written & directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, the film opens with a brief prologue that serves no purpose to the plot whatsoever and then narrates its tale in three sections. Plodding for the most part and indulging in moments that play a role in providing a deeper insight into the protagonist's arc, the film makes for a wonderful character study but it could've been so much more.
The sequences that capture the clash between the veteran resident & the company that owns the peripheral surrounding are fascinating but whenever it delves into her own life, it becomes a bit dull. I'm sure there are plenty of political & social undertones beneath its surface but to an outsider like me, it felt trivial to the main plot, and the only aspect that made me sit through it was Sônia Braga's input.
A slow-moving, often-frustrating & mostly unappealing cinema that stays on one level throughout its overlong runtime and manages to get interesting only during the final chapter, Aquarius is finely crafted & nicely shot and paints quite a portrait of the leading character but it isn't what I thought it would be. Maybe I dived into it with wrong expectations or maybe it actually is bland, either way, I'm not its intended audience.
Writer/director Kleber Mendonca Filbo wisely casts Ms. Braga in the lead of his latest, and she delivers what may be her best performance ever and certainly one of the best by any actress this year. Clara is the lone holdout in a beachfront apartment complex against a corporate developer intent on modernizing the old building in order to maximize profits.
The film is divided into three parts: "Clara's Hair", "Clara's Love", and "Clara's Cancer". The initial segment is set in 1980 when Clara is recovering from cancer treatment and is attending the 70th birthday party for her beloved Aunt Lucia (Thaia Perez). Lucia's flashbacks to her younger days bring a subtle smile to her face, while providing parallels to what we see later with Clara. Some secrets from family are treasured memories, not meant to be shared. As the story moves forward, we grow to admire and respect Clara and join in her defiance of the smirky hotshot developer.
The big company bullying the old lady would be an interesting and predictable story, but here it's secondary to the story of a strong woman – a woman who overcomes cancer, carries on after the death of her husband, fights to keep her home, and generally lives life on her own terms. She maintains her strength and dignity despite outside influences.
A recurring theme throughout is "old vs. new". From the first sequence with the "old" Aunt passing the baton to her younger niece, to the old lady battling the young developer in order to prevent the historic building from being turned into a modern co-op, to the contrast of the vinyl records of Clara's collection to the digital music of the younger generation, to Clara's preference for actual phone calls to texting. It's the classic now versus then argument, and it's summed up by Clara's line to her kids: "When you like it, it's vintage. When you don't, it's old." There are some similarities to Sebastian Lelo's 2013 film Gloria, which featured an exceptional performance from Paulina Garcia, and this one utilizes some terrific "little" scenes conversations with family and daily life with her housekeeper – all while staying close to a glass of wine, her favorite music, a cozy hammock, and her Barry Lyndon poster. While the ending is a bit disappointing, and Brazilian politics prevented it from being that country's Oscar submission, those don't negatively impact the strength of Sonia Braga's Oscar worthy performance as we rejoice in the strength of an independent woman.
Movie's director, Kleber Mendonça, is a very skilled storyteller when it comes to expose the most bitter side of Brazilian's contradictory elite society. I've watched all his movies and shorts and I must tell, they are not comfortable. Yet they disclose things that either we don't talk about or we don't clearly see. It's a mind blowing criticism over our cultural trends and social costumes.
As for the main actress, Sonia Braga is one of the most iconic actresses in Brazil. She moved to US to live a relationship with Robert Redford, another great actor and director. As years passed by, she did connected with America's movie industry, though she never left her carrier in Brazil entirely.
In 2013 Kleber wrote a script that according to Sonia, while reading it, was a "present" from its author. So he invited her and she promptly replied. The result is this movie where, as The Telegraph correctly said, "will make you want to move to Brazil".
The film's vintage prologue takes us back to 1980, we are first introduced to a young Clara (Coleen), celebrates both her victory over cancer (later a briefing scene will inform us it is breast cancer) and her aunt's (a sprightly silver-haired Perez) 70th birthday, who reminisces of her wild youth (a carnal liberation in particular) when she clocks to an inconspicuous cabinet, which will become a mnemonic to trigger Clara down to her own memory lane 35 years later.
In the present time, Clara has outlived her husband for 17 years (life has its unpredictable quirks, who could image a seemingly healthier husband would be gone so soon) and now lives alone, she takes the leisurely pace to continue her daily life, as an independent, mature and loving woman: schmoozing with the lifeguard (Santos) on the beach where she routinely swims; enjoying a dancing night with her girlfriends and having no qualms to engage in a spur-of-the-moment making-out with a widower, who politely recedes to decency when he is aware of her physical condition (how shallow a man could be?). And obviously she has become much closer to her nephew Tomas (Queiroz) than her three adult offspring (a married son, a divorced daughter and a gay son), especially her relationship with her daughter Ana Paula (Jinkings) is strained, because of the status quo: the Aquarius building, erected in the 40s, is acquired by a construction company for a complete reconstruction except for Clara's apartment, and Ana Paula doesn't understand the reason why Clare won't sell it.
So what is the reason? Clare cannot be bought off by money because as she claims that she has 5 apartments under her name, therefore she has no financial exigency to exchange her favorite property into cash, which marks her a different case from the usual hungry-for-pecuniary-gain mass. Aquarius adumbrates her fondness, nostalgia and affections of her long winded past, all the happenings (like the B-day party in the prologue) comprising her entire life, in her sense, they live and die with the building itself. There is no denying it is a somewhat selfish reason to sabotage a project might be beneficial to assuage the local housing problem. But Mendonça Filho is trenchant and adamant to exercise the disproof, a final startling revelation will jolt Clara into the self- righteous action of hauling the evidence right in front of these corporate crooks. This is a tub- thumping censure to a society festered with sleaze and corruption, and utterly relatable in most corners of our world.
What hits the unusual mark of extraordinary is the filmmakers' impeccable tact and devotion of playing out an unbiased portrait of a woman of certain age who, more often than not isn't even be considered to assume the cynosure of a movie, and Mendonça Filho welcomes her with the full treatment including the often dismissed libidinous department, when you find out there is a raucous orgy organized in the empty apartment above yours, what is the best rebuttal other than calling an escort to quench that aroused thirst?
It goes without saying Ms. Braga's towering performance is of tectonic import to the success of the film, so much composedly immersed herself in the character, she takes Clara's prosaic daily life in stride, and not for one second, slackens her dignified defiance or renders it patronizing or haughty (which would very likely occur in lesser hands), she holds court whether there is a tacit awkwardness in her bungled sex-in-the-car diversion, or a whiff of disappointment toward her self- serving daughter, not to mention when she lets rip with a tirade in front of Diego (a smugly educated Carrão, admirably fending off Braga's all-out verbal offensive), the young representative of the company, that sequence alone can give 2016 Best Actress hopefuls a run for their money!
AQUARIUS is ultimately a rapier-like social critique welded with an endearingly patient character study, manufactured with deliberation, consideration and integrity, a transcendent sophomore piece presages an auteur in the making. On a less rigorous note, it is a cautionary tale exhorting us not to mess with a refusenik who has a hammock in her apartment, which means that she has both strength and means to stick it to the end.
Did you know
- TriviaThe movie received an 18 rating from Brazilian Ministry of Justice for "drugs" and "explicit sex". On appeal, the age rating was changed to 16. But in 2024, after a complaint, it is 18 again.
- GoofsWhen Clara, who is annoyed by the noise from a party in the apartment above, decides to listen to a vinyl record, she picks up Queen's 1978 album "Jazz" and plays the second track, "Fat Bottomed Girls". But what is played is the shorter version of the song (released only as a single in 1978 and on the 1981 compilation "Greatest Hits") instead of the longer version from the album that is clearly shown spinning on the turntable.
- Quotes
Clara: It's impressive what people say about lack of education, and they always refer to poor people, but lack of manners isn't in poor people, it's in rich, well educated people like you, the elite, who think they are elite, who think they are privileged, who don't stand in line, you know? People like you who took a "business" course, but lack basic human decency, who have no character, you know? No character, no I mean, you do have a character; your character is money, all you've got is your shit-eating smile; that's what you got.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Portraits fantômes (2023)
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Водолій
- Filming locations
- 560 Avenida Boa Viagem, Pina, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil(Aquarius building)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- R$2,500,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $285,930
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $29,129
- Oct 16, 2016
- Gross worldwide
- $3,085,977
- Runtime2 hours 26 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1