Val (Regina Casé), a longtime live-in maid in São Paulo, feels almost like a part of the affluent family she faithfully serves—especially their 17-year-old son for whom she is a surrogate mother—but she has not seen her own teenage daughter for ten years. When her daughter Jessica (Camila Mardila) unexpectedly contacts her, wanting to stay with Val while applying to college, Val is excited but filled with trepidation. Jessica arrives, smart, confident and ambitious, feeling (and acting) like an equal, and throws the unspoken class barriers that rule the household into disarray. Instead of sleeping on a mattress on the floor of Val’s boxlike bedroom, Jessica suggests she stay in the opulent empty guest room. Her presence upsets the status quo, testing relationships and loyalties and forcing everyone to reconsider what family really means. Casé and Mardila are wonderful together, winning a special Jury Prize for Acting at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival; funny and heartwarming, the film went on to win the Audience Award at the Berlin Film Festival. Written and directed by Anna Muylaert (co-writer of The Year My Parents Went on Vacation).
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