The dynamic between “the help” and “the helped” is rife with narrative potential. It can be political (The Butler), tender (Cries and Whispers) or criminal (Murderous Maids). Since modern forms of privilege in North America have replaced live-in maids with part-time nannies and locavore chefs, the best films about maids in recent history are coming out of South America. In 2009, it was Chile’s The Maid, about a loyal house-worker who contests her replacement after 23 years on the job. This year, we have Brazil’s The Second Mother, about a loyal housekeeper, the family she pampers and the proud daughter who comes to stay. Through its naturalist style, seamless performances and undercurrent of restless tension, The Second Mother turns a simple, human story into one of the most hypnotizing dramas of the year.
Val (Regina Casé) is one of those housekeepers who could vacuum the living room with her eyes closed. She has worked for Carlos (Lourenço Mutarelli) and his wife Barbara (Karine Teles) for 13 years, cooking their breakfasts, cleaning their sheets and coddling their teenage son with an affection that his own mother would never dream of showing. Transcending clichés of patriarch and housewife, Carlos is a shy and self-effacing man who inherited his wealth. Barbara, on the other hand, is an icy and commanding businesswoman. They are polite to Val, but small snobberies and microaggresions abound, the unseen class division as potent as the chlorine in the family’s pool.
After an unexpected call from the daughter she has not seen in 10 years, Val asks Carlos and Barbara if the teenager can come and visit. They grant permission, and when Jessica (Camila Mardila) arrives, she is all spunk and confidence. Contrasting with her mother’s submissiveness, Jessica sits at the breakfast table and speaks openly about her ambitions. She plans to use her stay in the family’s home as a time to study for an exam which will determine her admission into one of the most competitive universities in São Paulo. Jessica keenly understands that education is the key to upward mobility, and she perseveres despite the doubts of those around her.
The Second Mother taps into fascinating differences in the perception of social conditions. Lying on the floor beside her mother’s narrow bed, Jessica says, “I don’t know how you can take it.” Val sits up and asks with utter naiveté, “How I can take what?” For as “modern” as the home of Val’s employers appears to be, Jessica recognizes that her mother is being treated as a second-class citizen. Val, who is from a different generation, doesn’t see it. This is the invisible influence that social and political power structures hold over our lives.
Writer-director Anna Muylaert expertly intercepts the loaded gazes and aggrieved expressions of her principal actors. Through her naturalist execution, Muylaert bears witness to Val’s subtle evolution in a tightly contained domestic environment. The story is pared down but the emotions, and the politics behind them, are anything but. The Second Mother depends on its outstanding ensemble, but it’s Case who steals the show. A veteran actress in Brazil, she evokes a middle-aged woman’s muted regrets, loves and sorrows with grace and warmth.
If Val’s syrupy attention for Carlos and Barbara’s son proves that mothering is as much a choice as a biological instinct, the conclusion of The Second Mother renews that point in a fresh and believable way. Nevertheless, there is a fine line between care and subservience. Nurturing a child is one thing. Nurturing adults is something else altogether, especially when it happens at the expense of another person’s sense of self.
The film elegantly maneuvers these themes and more. For all its questioning of class and gender, the film is dotted with moments of comedy and real emotional honesty. Jessica butts heads with Barbara, who isn’t the liberal matriarch she pretends to be, and she bonds with Carlos on a private outing wherein his private loneliness comes sharply into focus. The Second Mother is a welcome addition to the pantheon of “maid movies,” once again proving that the woman with the duster is the one to watch out for.