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Poster for The Second Mother

The Second Mother

2015 · 112 min

A quietly observant drama that blends warmth and unease as small acts of defiance unsettle a rigid household.

Overview
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.

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Rent in the UK
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  • BFI Player
More options Data from JustWatch
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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
  • warmstrength 2 of 3
  • satiricalstrength 2 of 3
  • tensestrength 1 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • class
  • family
  • identity
  • parenthood
  • guilt
Places
  • big city
  • home
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
  • ensemble
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence none
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action1
Horror0
Humour5
Realism9
Romance2
Tension5
Darkness4
Complexity6
Emotional weight7

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Where to watch in the UK

Rent
  • Apple TV Store
  • Amazon Video
  • BFI Player
Buy
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  • Amazon Video

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres
drama
Directed by
Anna Muylaert
Written by
Anna Muylaert
Starring
Regina Casé, Camila Márdila, Karine Teles, Lourenço Mutarelli, Michel Joelsas, Helena Albergaria, Bete Dorgam, Luis Miranda
Cinematography
Bárbara Álvarez
Runtime
112 min
Country
Brazil
Languages
English, Portuguese

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