The Seamstress

Breno Silveira's 2017 Brazilian film adapts Frances de Pontes Peebles's novel. Of two sisters separated by fate in the 1930s, one tries to find her place inside high society in a big city and the other among a band of outlaws in the countryside. Both meet the limits imposed on women, in different forms: one in a drawing room, the other on dry land. What is interesting is that it describes the northeastern bandit culture known as cangaço without romanticising it; there is violence but no heroism. The parallel lines of Nanda Costa and Marjorie Estiano are constantly tied together by the editing, sustaining the bond between sisters across distance. Silveira's visual language rests on wide landscapes and is sometimes over-ornamented. Who it's for: viewers who like Brazilian period films, literary adaptations and stories of sisterhood. Who it's not for: anyone avoiding sexual violence, or who will find a runtime past two hours and a parallel structure wearing.