Alice's House

Alice is in her forties and works as a manicurist in a beauty salon. She lives in a neighborhood in the outskirts of Sao Paulo, sharing an apartment with her mother, Dona Jacira, her husband, Lindomar, a taxi-driver, and their three sons, Lucas, Edinho, and Junior. At home, Dona Jacira takes care of the household chores. She washes, irons, cooks, and cleans, while listening to her favorite radio show. Carlinhos Abranches, the show’s host, seems to alleviate the old woman’s loneliness, who realizes she is gradually going blind. Lucas, the eldest son and a conservative young man by nature, is in the army and has ambitions of becoming a lieutenant, so that he can imitate the authoritarian behavior of his superiors. In his free time, he secretly makes extra money from the old men with whom he spends time together. Edinho, the middle son, is Dona Jacira´s most affectionate grandson, but even she is not spared from his need and compulsion for a new pair of sneakers or a Walkman. Junior, the youngest son, is the most fragile and closest to Alice. Lucas is his role model and like all adolescents, he is tormented by affection and his own sexual awakenings. After 20 years of marriage, neither Lindomar nor Alice expects much in the way of reconciliation. The taxi-driver saves his sexual impulses for the affairs that he maintains, with a preference for teenage girls. Alice pretends not to acknowledge her husband’s infidelities. Enter Nilson, Alice’s old boyfriend from adolescence. Alice sees in him the possibility to realize her romantic dreams, changing the course of her love life and finances. Once more she creates illusions that will lead her to nothing. —FigaFilms