Set in 1950s Rio de Janeiro, the film revolves around two sisters, living restricted lives with their conservative parents. However, each nourishes a passionate dream: Eurídice of becoming a renowned pianist; Guida of finding love. In a dramatic turn of events, they are separated and forced to live apart. They take control of their destinies, while never giving up hope of finding one another.... (Full plot summary below)
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Set in 1950s Rio de Janeiro, the film revolves around two sisters, living restricted lives with their conservative parents. However, each nourishes a passionate dream: Eurídice of becoming a renowned pianist; Guida of finding love. In a dramatic turn of events, they are separated and forced to live apart. They take control of their destinies, while never giving up hope of finding one another.
Leave your thoughts about Invisible Life.
| TheWrapMonica CastilloAïnouz’s Invisible Life reflects the kind of love story we rarely see on-screen, and it’s a gem worth discovering for yourself. |
| RogerEbert.comTomris LafflyLush melodramas are a dying breed, especially masterful ones like Karim Aïnouz’s Invisible Life that wear Douglas Sirkian genre conventions on their sleeve proudly and abundantly. |
| The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe lustrous textures, boldly saturated colors and lush sounds of The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao serve to intensify the intimacy of Karim Ainouz's gorgeous melodrama about women whose independence of mind remains undiminished, even as their dreams are shattered by a stifling patriarchal society. |
| The New York TimesGlenn KennyThere’s such a disconcerting rush of lush imagery and action in the first 40 minutes or so of “Invisible Life” that one is apt to wonder whether there’s any kind of focused narrative. But the casual misdirection is setting the viewer up for an emotional kill. |
| Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangIt’s a drama of resilient women, thoughtless men and crushingly unrealized dreams, told with supple grace, deep feeling and an empathy that extends in every direction. |
| The GuardianCath ClarkeThe movie is saturated with emotion and colour, though its novelistic depth brings with it the slightly effortful running time of two hours and 20 minutes. |
| CineVueChristopher MachellWhile Duarte and Stockler’s deeply-felt turns anchor the film from drifting into simplistic sentimentality, Hélène Louvart’s sumptuous cinematography elevates the script’s high-flung emotion with spaces that are often dreamlike; light is tangible like a haze, colours deep and tactile, and characters are glimpsed and doubled through screens, glass and mirrors, and Benedikt Schiefer’s classical score tenderly fills out and gives detail to the broader emotional brushstrokes. |
| The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Amil NiaziThrough a richly layered lens of myth-building and melodrama, Ainouz manages to capture the heartbreak, solitude and resilience of women on the verge. |
| San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleInvisible Life is not an entirely fun watch, and its 139-minute running time is an investment and sometimes feels like it. But it offers something more than the usual experience. |
| Washington PostMichael O'SullivanThe progression of the story is steadily downward, and at times the style flirts with melodrama, the mood with moroseness. But in the film’s third act, masterfully staged by filmmaker Karim Aïnouz (who co-wrote the screen adaptation with Inez Bortagaray and Murilo Hauser), it takes a giant leap, both temporally and emotionally. |
