Family matters | 3 September 2015

The Second Mother is a Brazilian film concerning a wealthy family, their live-in housekeeper, and the arrival of the housekeeper’s daughter, who throws the household into upheaval. If pushed, I’d say it’s about class and the female experience but, before you run for the hills, you should know it is socio-economic warfare beautifully written and it is socioeconomic warfare exquisitely performed and it is socioeconomic warfare undertaken with humour and heart, and if you’re still not sold, more fool you.

The housekeeper — who is also nanny, maid, gardener and dog-walker — is Val, as played by Regine Chase, who is dynamite; who engages in the first frame and then simply carries on doing so. She is a wonderfully warm presence, and has one of those strong-featured, supremely characterful, sublime faces as rarely seen in cinema, now cinema is practically wall-to-wall Jennifer Lawrences. (A face probably not seen since Peggy Mount. Has there been anyone on screen like Peggy Mount? I miss Peggy Mount.)

Val is employed by Barbara (Karine Teles), who is some kind of high-flying professional, and her husband, Carlos (Lourenco Mutarelli), a former painter who is listless and may be depressed, and they have a son, Fabinho (Michel Joelsas). He is around 16, and Val is the second mother, having raised him since he was a little boy, and having been present when Barbara was not. She offers him physical affection to the extent that, even now, when he requires comfort, he climbs into her bed so she can stroke his hair. I must confess that I did find this a little creepy, but maybe they do things differently in São Paulo?

Val does not question her position in life. Val is as happy as Larry.