Directed by Karim Aïnouz
Starring Julia Stockler, Carol Duarte and Flávia Gusmão
MPAA rating: R for strong sexual content/graphic nudity and some drug use
Running time: 2 hours and 19 minutes

by Ashley Jane

“I have a new family. It is this one that I should devote myself to… I’ve created a new bond, someone who loves me unconditionally. Family is not blood. It is love.”

In director Karim Aïnouz’s beautifully heartbreaking film Invisible Life, we follow two sisters living in 1950s Rio de Janeiro. Guida (Julia Stockler) is the eldest sister, young and in love with a sailor from Greece who she is planning to run away with. Eurídice (Carol Duarte) is the younger sister with no romantic aspirations, but musical ones, as she is a very gifted pianist. Dad is, well, an asshole? An oppressively traditional type whose concern is to impress members of the community, while not giving a damn about his own family. Mom seems like a loving and caring woman, but in this society, is simply a fearful shadow of her husband who doesn’t express thoughts of her own. Ahh the 1950s. Take it all in, folks.