After leaving her daughter Jessica in a small town in Pernambuco to be raised by relatives, Val spends the next 13 years working as a nanny to Fabinho in São Paulo. She has financial stability but has to live with the guilt of having not raised Jessica herself. As Fabinho’s university entrance exams approach, Jessica reappears in her life and seems to want to give her mother a second chance. However, Jessica has not been raised to be a servant and her very existence will turn Val’s routine on its head. With precision and humour, the subtle and powerful forces that keep rigid class structures in place and how the youth may just be the ones to shake it all up.
If The Second Mother hit you the right way, here are Hollywood films that share its DNA. Same emotional weight, same kind of stories, same kind of payoff.
Both films sit with grief, figuring out who you are, and belonging. They share the same lens on family duty, family wounds passed down, and class and money. The feel is the same: dark comedy, warm, and escalating.
Like The Second Mother, this one is rooted in guilt. The world both films live in revolves around class and money and poverty. The feel is the same: dark comedy and escalating.
Both films sit with figuring out who you are, grief, and guilt. The world both films live in revolves around class and money, family wounds passed down, and family duty. The feel is the same: dark comedy, melancholic, and escalating.
