Fernanda Torres is a standout as a real-life matriarch in military-ruled Brazil of the 1970s.

Rio de Janeiro, 1970. The Paiva family lives in a rented house near the beach which is always full of friends. They are comfortable rather than rich, but they enjoy a different kind of wealth: an intellectual freedom and curiosity that feels increasingly precious as the Brazilian military dictatorship flexes its muscle on the streets outside. One day, men with guns come to take the father, Rubens (Selton Mello), in for questioning. In his absence, his wife Eunice (Fernanda Torres) must find a way to protect her five children and reinvent herself. Walter Salles’ superb factually-based film – he was a real-life friend of the Paiva family as a teenager – is an engrossing, affecting tribute to a formidable woman and her family.

Wendy Ide, Screen International