Casa de Areia, better known in English speaking countries by the title, House of Sand, is a magnificently shot film of three generations of mothers and daughters covering a 60-year struggle to fulfill a dream.
The story is set in an isolated white dessert dunes in the northern Brazil . The beautiful sand swells become characters in the film as they change with time. The landscape is heightened when sapphire waters speckle the dunes as far as one can see.
In 1910, this seldom visited locale is the place where Vasco brings his younger wife, Aurea (Fernanda Torres) and her mother, Dona Maria (Fernanda Montenegro ) to settle and build a homestead. Before long, Vasco dies leaving his pregnant wife and mother-in-law trapped in a place they cannot escape.
Montenegro, who in 1999, was nominated for Best Actress for her role in the international film, Central Station, once again shows how one can communicate so much without saying a word. At one point in this film she leaves and returns to play her own daughter who is now grown and has an adult child. Her widowed daughter also trades places to play that adult child. All this might sound confusing but its not. The film evolves through many years at a pace which creates a comfort level allowing you to accept these women as they transition through each role. The depth of the relationships between the two are so entwined on screen you find it easier to understand knowing they are real-life mother and daughter.
Casa de Areia takes you on a journey you are happy to be a part of. It's a journey, although difficult at times, that is well worth the adventure and an adventure never performed in American cinema.
The story is set in an isolated white dessert dunes in the northern Brazil . The beautiful sand swells become characters in the film as they change with time. The landscape is heightened when sapphire waters speckle the dunes as far as one can see.
In 1910, this seldom visited locale is the place where Vasco brings his younger wife, Aurea (Fernanda Torres) and her mother, Dona Maria (Fernanda Montenegro ) to settle and build a homestead. Before long, Vasco dies leaving his pregnant wife and mother-in-law trapped in a place they cannot escape.
Montenegro, who in 1999, was nominated for Best Actress for her role in the international film, Central Station, once again shows how one can communicate so much without saying a word. At one point in this film she leaves and returns to play her own daughter who is now grown and has an adult child. Her widowed daughter also trades places to play that adult child. All this might sound confusing but its not. The film evolves through many years at a pace which creates a comfort level allowing you to accept these women as they transition through each role. The depth of the relationships between the two are so entwined on screen you find it easier to understand knowing they are real-life mother and daughter.
Casa de Areia takes you on a journey you are happy to be a part of. It's a journey, although difficult at times, that is well worth the adventure and an adventure never performed in American cinema.