Aquarius is a 2016 drama film written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and starring Sônia Braga as Clara, the last resident of Aquarius building, who refuses to sell her apartment to a construction company that intends to replace it with a new edifice. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
The film generated uproar in Brazil due to its political connotations, especially because it was released at the apex of the country's political crisis. The film's cast and crew actively positioned itself against what they considered to be a coup d'état in Brazil, showing protest signs at Cannes.
A number of controversies were raised over the film, including its nonselection as the country's entry to the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards by the Ministry of Culture’s committee, which has been seen as a supposed act of retaliation by Brazil's new government.
It was nominated for several awards, including the Independent Spirit Award for Best International Film and the César Award for Best Foreign Film. The film was included in a number of critics' lists of best films of the year, including from Sight & Sound, Cahiers du cinéma and The New York Times.
Plot
In 1980, Clara and her family celebrates her aunt's birthday at the Aquarius apartment building in Recife after overcoming a breast cancer that cost her right breast. In the present day, Clara, now a retired journalist and writer, is still living in the same apartment, but alone, since her husband died 17 years before and her three children have moved out. Her only constant company is her maid Ladjane.
She refuses to accept a buy-out from Geraldo, head of Bonfim, and a development company that wishes to reclaim her apartment in order to replace the old building with a larger and homonymous edifice, even though all the other apartments are already vacant and despite her own children's advice to accept the offer.
The developers, especially the proprietor's grandson, American educated designer and head of the new Aquarius project Diego, become frustrated with Clara's resistance and try to disturb her through a number of means, including throwing parties at the apartment right above hers and burning mattresses at the parking lot. Eventually, in an open argument, she berates Diego that education without decency amounts to nothing.
Clara starts digging up dirt on Bonfim through her contacts. Also, she learns from two former employees of the company that Diego ordered termite nests to be installed inside empty apartments to force Clara out. With the help of her friends Roberval, a lifeguard, and Cleide Vieira, a lawyer, she breaks into some apartments and confirms they are swarming with termites.
Accompanied by her brother Antonio, her nephew Tomás (Pedro Queiroz) and Cleide, she goes to Bonfim to confront Diego and Geraldo over the dirty deeds and the termites.
Cast
Sônia Braga as Clara
Bárbara Colen as young Clara
Humberto Carrão as Diego, the construction company representative
Irandhir Santos as Roberval, a lifeguard
Maeve Jinkings as Ana Paula, Clara's daughter
Pedro Queiroz as Tomás, Clara's nephew
Julia Bernat as Julia, Tomás's girlfriend
Zoraide Coleto as Ladjane, Clara's housekeeper
Reception
Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 97% based on 112 reviews, with an average rating of 8.10/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 88 out of 100, based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Peter Bradshaw, writing for The Guardian, awarded the film 4 stars out of five and called it "beautifully observed and surprising", "a richly detailed character study, immersing the audience in the life and mind of its imperious main character, Clara, who is addressed as 'Dona Clara', commandingly played by Sônia Braga", yet criticizing the film's ending. Jay Weissberg, in Variety, compared the film to Mendonça Filho's previous project, Neighboring Sounds, calling it "a more subtle film but no less mature, a calmer film but no less angry", and strongly complimented Sonia Braga's acting and Mendonça Filho's directing skills.