SummaryClara (Sonia Braga), a 65 year old widow and retired music critic, was born into a wealthy and traditional family in Recife, Brazil. She is the last resident of the Aquarius, an original two-story building, built in the 1940s, in the upper-class, seaside Avenida Boa Viagem, Recife. All the neighboring apartments have already been acquire...
SummaryClara (Sonia Braga), a 65 year old widow and retired music critic, was born into a wealthy and traditional family in Recife, Brazil. She is the last resident of the Aquarius, an original two-story building, built in the 1940s, in the upper-class, seaside Avenida Boa Viagem, Recife. All the neighboring apartments have already been acquire...
Braga has been presented with an uncommonly dense and multi-faceted role here, and she plunges into it with a kind of glossy-maned, leonine majesty, investing the character with a hard-won dignity that often has you stifling a cheer, but also exploring her flaws in gripping fashion.
At 2½ hours, Aquarius is about a half-hour too long for the story it tells, yet it feels like a privilege to be in the presence of such a powerful character and such a quietly commanding performance.
So it’s marvelous to see Braga setting the big screen ablaze — speaking her native language, for once — in Aquarius, a Brazilian drama constructed entirely around her.
Its languid pace befits the Recife setting, and Filho sets many scenes on long walks down the coast or just after a particularly satisfying mid-day nap. His world is filled with music, dance and wine, and if the film takes a some time to get where it’s going, the beachfront setting remains a pleasant place to stay. Call it an escapist tale about stubbornly staying put.
Aquarius é um filme sobre resistência. Um filme lírico, que acompanha uma personagem que uma deformidade em um dos seios, mas isso não há impede de ser perfeita; não há impede de resistir. Tudo no filme tem uma história, e a personagem se nega à deixa que estas histórias sejam desfeitas. Uma direção sensível e um elenco incrível, Aquarius é um dos melhores filmes já feitos. É uma pena que tenha sido boicotado por motivos políticos.. tiraram de nós, a chance de conquistar o nosso primeiro Oscar.
In two days, I have managed to see three movies about getting or being old in a row – „Going in Style“, „Aftermath“ and now "Aquarius". Is the universe trying to tell me something?
Anyway, „Aquarius“ is the only good one of the bunch. It’s maybe half an hour too long and slows almost to standstill at times, so I won’t give it a higher score. But for movie lovers, it’s worth the time.
The story is about Clara (Sonja Braga), the last resident in the old upper-class apartment house that the property company can’t wait to take down. The 65 year old woman has pledged to only leave the place upon her death, and will engage in a cold war of sorts with the company.
On deeper level, it’s about having lost the purpose in life, which doesn’t really depend on number of people or friends and family surrounding you, and how bad things can bring motivation to continue fighting.
In some improtant ways, "Aquarius" is similar to this popular French movie „Elle“, both released in 2016 and premieried in Cannes Film Festival.
Both are about strong female character getting kind of old but still ready to continue fighting after bad things happen, and deal with extended family around her. "Elle" has Isabelle Huppert in the lead, "Aquarius" has Sonja Braga.
Both are also worthy movies in their own right, although could win from being a bit shorter. But in comparision, "Elle" is flashier and offers more quick excitement, whereas "Aquarius" feels like its artsy sister.
Screenwriter and director Kleber Mendonça Filho has chosen as non-flashiest approach to storytelling as possible. This works both for the movie’s favor, or against it, depending on the taste of viewer.
The characters, events and relationships are so real-life-like that it can alienate many viewers who will claim that „it’s boring“, „nothing is happening“, or something along these lines. The others will, vice versa, applaud the sharpness Filho has achieved in portraying people and relationships as they would really be in life. It’s an art in itself, really.
Just like in „Elle“, the central character and leading lady’s portrayal of her gives the viewer constant joy and is easily the noteworthiest thing in the whole result (which, of course, was the goal).
Sonja Braga amazes with her subtle but powerful acting especially in Clara’s moments of great stress such as troubles with children, or when things with property company turn nastier.
I’m not very good at describing exactly how well Braga has played out all the different shades and aspects of the woman's personality – from healthy pride that rises from knowing your worth and place in life to inflexible stubbornness, from being dead inside to still discovering lust for life in some ways. But I assure you that it’s a classy work from the thespian clearly on top of her game.
Sadly, „Aquarius“ did not turn out to be Brazil's submission for the 2017's foreign-language Oscar race, so it may not win more international attention than it already has. But it may be worth your time if you don't mind spending time on getting to know the people on screen.
„Aquarius“ is not compact enough to get easy recommendation – honestly, you will test your endurance at times – but all in all, I quite liked it. Easy to like a story centred on such a strong and intelligent female character, or actress as Sonja Braga.
This is a showcase for Sonia Braga. She plays a widow who staunchly goes thru life with family and friends (and some flashbacks). She's the last resident of her building and won't sell to the owners, who want to replace it with a luxury residence. Her refusal serves as the conflict around which her daily life takes place. There are lots of little moments, quiet observations and an ambiguous ending, typical of foreign cinema. Braga is wonderful to watch, which is good since this film is more about character than plot. In subtitles.
"Aquarius" is a slow moving 2 hour and 22 minute movie that would have been a very interesting hour and 45 minute movie. Director, and screenplay writer, Kleber Mendonca Filho puts in too many unnecessary scenes that add nothing to the film or plot except to tell us more than we need to know about Clara, who is at the center of the film. There is a scene at a cemetery, another of Clara's grandbaby running around nude and still another of a couple having sex on a beach not to forget an explicit orgy scene.
The story is basically of Clara who is the last tenet who owns an apartment in a building that a developer wants to tear down and make a tower of condos. She is comfortable with her life and has no desire to sell, move, uproot the life she has. We learn about Clara's daily life whether going for a swim every morning at the beach across the street, her battle with cancer that has left her scarred, he daughter recently divorced, one son who is **** and another son who is the father of her favorite grandson, having a night out with girlfriends, a possible romantic encounter that doesn't work out, a 'escort' that does plus her work as a music journalist writing books along with relatives and friends from the past and present. At the same time there is the story of the developer and his grandson trying at first to buy her out and then taking other methods.
Along the way there are discussions about how skin color affects lives in Brazil, where the picture takes place, as society gets into business and education can make a man's grandson think he the smartest one of making decisions to move things along. There are the children who who think the mother is making a selfish decision in not selling the house and her housekeeper/friend who lost her son a year before. And folks we haven't even touched upon the lifeguard, the church group and things going on inside and out side the building and Clara's apartment.
What makes "Aquaruis" special, a film to watch, is the performance by Sonia Braga who lets you know everything about the woman by the way she walks, talks, treats others, dresses, laughs, deals with problems, listens to music and shows love to family, friends and life. Braga defines the camera falling in love with a face.
Watching "Aquarius" I wished there was a fast forward button if for no other reason than to get past the cemetery scene and the three others mentioned in the first paragraph.