All the Dead Ones

1899. Slavery has recently been abolished in Brazil. After the death of their last housemaid, the three women of the Soares family are at a loss in the rapidly expanding city of São Paulo. The family, which once owned coffee plantations, is now on the brink of ruin and struggling to adapt. At the same time, the Nascimento family, who used to work as slaves on the Soares’ farm, now find themselves adrift in a society in which there is no place for recently freed black people. Caetano Gotardo and Marco Dutra’s elegant mise-en-scène perfectly highlights the contrasting personalities of their mostly female ensemble while men, no longer to be trusted as providers, occupy a back seat. From the old woman accustomed to being waited on and oblivious to her own anachronistic discourse, to a nun tempted by blasphemous ideas, a pianist whose mind is inhabited by her community’s dark past, and a former slave whose quick-mindedness and willpower guide her towards a better life, these fascinating women are both out of place and the pillars of an evolving nation. (Berlinale)