Director Walter Salles‘ new movie “I’m Nonetheless Right here” is a strong historic drama concerning the oppressive army dictatorship in his native Brazil in the course of the Seventies, as advised by means of the eyes of Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres), the spouse of a civil engineer and politician (Selton Mello) murdered by the regime. It’s additionally a deeply private reminiscence movie for Salles, who knew the Paiva household and hung out of their house in the course of the joyful years earlier than Rubens Paiva was kidnapped, tortured, and killed.
For lead actor Fernanda Torres, there was one thing mystical about enjoying a personality not solely taken from actual life however from Salles’ reminiscences. “One factor that struck me once I watched this film for the primary time was the honesty,” Torres advised a sold-out crowd on the American Cinematheque following a screening of “I’m Nonetheless Right here.”
“We didn’t appear like we had been appearing. It was prefer it was actually one thing from Walter’s reminiscence. I believe he orchestrated that.”
Selton Mello, who performed Torres’ husband, joined her, Salles, and screenwriter Heitor Lorega on the post-screening dialogue and agreed that the circumstances Salles created on set led to some distinctive results. “We shot chronologically, which may be very uncommon,” he stated. “The day I left the home, I left the movie. After I circled to Fernanda for the final time, I needed to give her a smile that [her character] would keep in mind for the remainder of her life.”
That, Mello stated, was difficult as a result of he needed to be conveying a significance of which his character was utterly unaware. “It was very onerous to play that scene as a result of I knew what was happening however he didn’t,” he stated. “I needed to be very relaxed like, I’m going to be again as we speak, or perhaps tomorrow. Like every part goes to be advantageous.” Mello stated it helped that he was enjoying the scene with youngster actors who performed his youngsters and helped him get again to the purity of his career. “Each time I work with youngsters it’s nice as a result of they remind me of the freshness of simply being there, of not appearing.”
Torres shared Mello’s impulse to keep away from appearing within the typical sense as a lot as attainable, realizing {that a} key to her character was her restraint — and that by some means, being as refined as attainable would enable Eunice to come back alive as she existed in Salles’ thoughts.
“There was this technique of not exhibiting the emotion however of hiding it and holding it and restraining it,” Torres stated. “I used to be in awe of the energy that restraining feelings can create, as a result of then I believe the viewers turns into a witness to this girl who can’t categorical herself.”
Based on Torres, Eunice’s feelings turn out to be projected onto the viewers, and vice versa, in a profound manner. “The viewers is who screams and reacts,” she stated. “It’s a type of appearing that’s nearer to being.”
In some circumstances, Torres stated Salles even grabbed response pictures that weren’t a part of the scene on the fly to get much more pure moments, as when a younger actor enjoying one of many youngsters reacted sadly to the truth that Mello was not simply leaving the movie as a personality, however as an actor and buddy. “She was experiencing a type of unhappiness, and Walter stole a shot of her.”
Torres feels that the movie’s significance as a reminiscence piece goes past what Salles remembers concerning the Paivas and turns into its personal assertion in opposition to a rustic dropping its cultural reminiscence. “Eunice was dropping her reminiscence to Alzheimer’s concurrently the nation was dropping its reminiscence of what occurred in the course of the dictatorship,” she stated. “The historical past of this girl is so associated to the historical past of Brazil. She needed to reinvent herself, similar to the nation.”
For Torres, the wonderful factor about Eunice Paiva is that she by no means cared to be acknowledged or celebrated, however by means of the facility of cinema, she will be able to now be correctly celebrated. “This was a technique of doing one thing that Eunice could be pleased with,” Torres stated. “Now Eunice is extra alive than ever, and the movie, in a manner, is the physique of Rubens Paiva that was by no means returned. It’s the proof that they existed. After I take into consideration this movie, it’s so wonderful what artwork can do — it’s a weapon in opposition to oblivion.”
“I’m Nonetheless Right here” is Brazil’s submission for the 2025 Greatest Worldwide Characteristic Oscar. It’s going to have an awards-qualifying run in December earlier than opening in additional theaters nationwide January 17, 2025.