The captivating, wonderfully moving new Brazilian drama from Gustavo Pizzi, Loveling traces a mother-of-four whose life is turned upside down when her eldest son is offered the chance to pursue his sporting dreams overseas.
Irene (Karine Teles) is raising four rambunctious sons in a home that is physically crumbling but warm and happy. As Irene simultaneously shelters her sister Sonia and her son (who just left a volatile marriage), supports her own husband whose business is struggling financially, and plans her own long-awaited high school graduation, Irene’s eldest son, Fernando, suddenly announces he has been recruited by a professional handball team in Germany and will be leaving in just three weeks. Consummate caretaker Irene resists at the idea of emancipating the 16-year-old so he can travel and live alone, and she becomes increasingly anxious about what her future holds.
Writer/director Gustavo Pizzi exquisitely captures a family’s home and life in intimate, crisp, fully realized detail, while co-writer/actress Karine Teles embodies Irene with delicacy and passion, articulating in equal measure her fierce familial devotion, seemingly endless reserve of warmth and patience, and growing existential doubt.
Tuesday 13th November
98 min
M
Film Festival
