Aquarius

The last resident of an old seafront building in Recife, a retired music critic, refuses to sell her flat. The developer is polite at first and then systematically aggressive. The film builds this not as a property dispute but as a defence of memory: the records, the furniture and the rooms she keeps carry her own history. The narrative also shows an ageing woman's body and desire directly, and does not present that as exceptional. Kleber Mendonca Filho directed, with Sonia Braga in the lead. The cast unfurled banners against the impeachment proceedings in Brazil on the red carpet at Cannes, which turned the film's release at home into a political argument. Who it's for: those who like slow, character-led, political Brazilian cinema. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a conflict to resolve; the film largely leaves it standing.