DIE SEHNSUCHT DER SCHWESTERN GUSMAO

Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s: the sisters Eurídice and Guida Gusmão are closer to each other than blood alone could explain. Eurídice plays piano and dreams of being admitted to the conservatory in Vienna; Guida is drawn out of the parental home, into a life her father never planned for her. Then their paths separate, and neither knows what has become of the other. Across the decades, “Die Sehnsucht der Schwestern Gusmão” (Brazil, 2019) by Karim Aïnouz tells how two women, in a society ruled by men, fight for lives of their own while forever missing one another.

Aïnouz stages the material as melodrama in the spirit of Douglas Sirk: rich in colour, physical, with an eye for the quiet cruelties of family life. The film won the top prize of the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival 2019. It was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2019 in the Brazilian Night section.

Shown at the 2019 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2019 · Film Archive