Queen’s Road: Brazilian director Fellipe Barbosa’s excellently mounted feature debut, The Ballad of Poor Jean (Casa Grande), dissects a privileged family’s struggle to maintain their lifestyle in an affluent Rio neighbourhood.
Putting the lens on a high-school senior who is unaware that his father is deeply in debt, the feature film is full of well-observed signifiers on caste, class and human nature. Both a coming of age film and a commentary on the changing socio-politico-economic landscape of the country, the movie makes for a great watch at the BIFFes.
The opening scene of the film sees Hugo (Marcello Novaes) exiting his pool at night, and entering his lavishly spread home. Leading a seemingly perfect life, Hugo and his wife Sonia (Suzana Pires) live along with their son Jean (Thales Cavalcanti), daughter Nathalie (Alice Melo), a live-in housekeeper Rita (Clarissa Pinheiro), the maid Noemia (Marilia Coelho) and a driver/handyman Severino (Gentil Cordeiro).
Comfortable in their privileged cocoon, the family, culturally identify as European, with the parents shifting into French every now and then. But appearances begin to crumble soon. A hedge fund manager whose company went bust, Hugo is barely able to make ends meet, but pride will not let him admit to his financial crisis, not even to his family. So when he has to let his driver go, he lies to his son that the driver wanted to go on a vacation. Sonia soon has to find a job to make ends meet. But while his parents are so desperate to keep up their rich, affluent lifestyles, Jean yearns to escape from it.
Jean’s interactions with people from the “other” side of his country raises his self-awareness and marks his shift from just another rich kid to a boy on the cusp of political awakening.
The film screens again at Screen 1 in Lido (Trinity Circle) at 6 pm on Thursday.