$12 General Admission, $9 Member, $7 child age 14 or younger
Doors Open for admissions 30 min. prior to screening Buy tickets at Film Center or online now
An excitingly fresh take on some classic themes and ideas, THE SECOND MOTHER centers around Val, a hard-working live-in housekeeper in modern day São Paulo. Val is perfectly content to take care of every one of her wealthy employers’ needs, from cooking and cleaning to being a surrogate mother to their teenage son, who she has raised since he was a toddler. But when Val’s estranged daughter Jessica suddenly shows up the unspoken but intrinsic class barriers that exist within the home are thrown into disarray. Jessica is smart, confident, and ambitious, and refuses to accept the upstairs/downstairs dynamic, testing relationships and loyalties and forcing everyone to reconsider what family really means.
Porturgese with English subtitles
“This is the sort of savvy, socially conscious crowdpleaser that occupies a rare middle ground between genteel and intellectual world cinema,”
–Geoff Berkshire, Variety
“All the elements of the story fit impeccably together for a humorous and occasionally wrenching examination of relationships.”
–Stephanie Merry, Washington Post
“The characters are so accustomed to keeping up appearances that they can’t bring themselves to say what’s bugging them. Their interactions may be mild, but the claustrophobic imagery creates the sense of being trapped in a powder keg.”
–Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader
