House of Sand (Casa de Areia) (2005)

78% of critics liked it
(69 reviews)
70% of users liked it
(7,649 ratings)

Three generations of women struggle to make lives for themselves and their families in the desert wastes of Northern Brazil in a drama from filmmaker Andrucha Waddington. In 1910, Vasco de Sá (Ruy Guerra) leads his wife, Áurea (Fernanda Torres), and her mother, Dona Maria (Fernanda Montenegro), to… More Three generations of women struggle to make lives for themselves and their families in the desert wastes of Northern Brazil in a drama from filmmaker Andrucha Waddington. In 1910, Vasco de Sá (Ruy Guerra) leads his wife, Áurea (Fernanda Torres), and her mother, Dona Maria (Fernanda Montenegro), to their new home -- a ramshackle cabin in Maranhão, a tiny village in the middle of a barren sand dune. Vasco and Áurea's new neighbors are hardly welcoming of the new arrivals, especially Massu (Seu Jorge), and when Vasco unexpectedly dies, Áurea and Dona Maria are left to fend for themselves, an especially vexing challenge as Áurea is with child. Nine years later, Áurea and Dona Maria have turned their cottage into a home, but life in Maranhão remains a constant uphill battle, and Áurea dreams of moving away with her daughter, Maria (Camilla Facundes). Áurea becomes infatuated with Luiz (Enrique Diaz), who works with a group of astronomers who have come to Maranhão to observe an eclipse, but their romance comes to a crashing halt when Dona Maria is killed. By 1942, Maria (now played by Fernanda Torres) is a promiscuous alcoholic who brings shame to Áurea (now played by Fernanda Montenegro). After the body of an Air Force pilot is found near Maranhão, a military officer is sent to investigate -- Luiz (now played by Stenio Garcia). When Luiz meets Maria, he sees the image of the woman he longed for years before, and while she doesn't have the same feelings for him, Maria realizes that Luiz represents her best hope of finally escaping the village she's come to hate. The House of Sand received its North American premiere at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 55 min.
Directed By: Andrucha Waddington
Written By: Elena Soarez
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Aug 11, 2006 Wide
On DVD: Dec 12, 2006
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

Critic Reviews

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
Evocative as it can be, House of Sand doesn't have enough story or incident to justify the investment in time.
Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News
Cinematographer Ricardo della Rosa ... has created images of rare beauty in the midst of terrain so spectacularly strange that it sometimes seems to speak a language all its own.
Michael Booth, Denver Post
It is a wondrous place, almost of another planet, and more than compensation for the effort to get there.
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
Visually dazzling, epic in its sweep and deeply romantic in its sensibility, The House of Sand is one of those films whose images and ideas linger long after the lights come on, having been burned into the viewer's consciousness.
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
It ends up like an impressionist painting without a subject, one we stare at longingly, waiting for its purpose to emerge.
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
Sensual, dreamlike, both intimate and epic, The House of Sand is a cinematic tour de force.
Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion
Disregards the political shifts of Brazil's history by isolating the sprawling narrative from the rest of the nation, so that nothing can distract the director from his finicky composing
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
It all seems as bleak and empty as the desert.
Phil Villarreal, Arizona Daily Star
Both characters make gradual evolutions, but don't blame audiences if they're too dazed and dry-mouthed to notice.
Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
...a part of a classic art-house tradition, that of the starkly beautiful yet chilly movie that haunts the memory without compelling any particular attention.
Beth Accomando, KPBS.org
House of Sand boasts the hypnotic power of its landscape and a pair of powerful and passionate performances by Montenegro and Torres.
John Wirt, Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)
A devastating yet beautiful film from Brazil, House of Sand tells an epic story of love and desolation.
John Beifuss, Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
At once allegorical and grimly naturalistic -- a contemplation of the sands of time set amid the drifting dunes of Brazil's unforgiving Maranahao desert.
Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
This beautifully photographed drama feels slow and lethargic.
Jason Ferguson, Orlando Weekly
The dramatic and often sad lives led by the women yield surprisingly intimate dramas considering such limitless surroundings, a contrast that's played up by the excellent cinematography.
David Elliott, San Diego Union-Tribune
[Waddington] is bothersomely casual with the time-jumps and never makes their long survival quite believable.
Marta Barber, Miami Herald
A visual work of art and its simple story moves as effortlessly as the sands in a forsaken desert in northern Brazil.

Read all 17 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Stella D

a hypnotic epic starring the wonderful fernanda montenegro and her real-life daughter, the film follows 3 generations of women for 60 odd years trapped in a magnificent but forbidding desert environment of northern brazil. a meditative experience in some ways reminiscent of… More
a hypnotic epic starring the wonderful fernanda montenegro and her real-life daughter, the film follows 3 generations of women for 60 odd years trapped in a magnificent but forbidding desert environment of northern brazil. a meditative experience in some ways reminiscent of teshigahara's woman in the dunes
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]In "House of Sand," it is 1910 and Aurea(Fernanda Torres) is pregnant and married to Vasco(Ruy Guerra), an older man who abuses her and drags her and her mother Maria(Fernanda Montenegro) to a remote area of Brazil where he has purchased land on the edge… More
[font=Century Gothic]In "House of Sand," it is 1910 and Aurea(Fernanda Torres) is pregnant and married to Vasco(Ruy Guerra), an older man who abuses her and drags her and her mother Maria(Fernanda Montenegro) to a remote area of Brazil where he has purchased land on the edge of the desert where they encounter a colony of escaped slaves, causing much of their party to desert. Aurea is reluctant to stay, saying that she had no idea it was going to be like this. Vasco's cruel treatment of her does not help and indeed causes Maria to contract with one of the ex-slaves to kill Vasco. When that does not work, part of an unfinished house falls on him, simultaneously killing him and possibly proving the existence of a higher power. Left alone, mother and daughter now petition for help from Massu(Seu Jorge) of the slaves' colony.[/font] [font=Century Gothic]"House of Sand" is a beautifully shot contemplation on the nature of life with a unique setting where a moment can feel like eons or a decade can go by in the blink of an eye. Also under consideration is space and how there may be no place remote enough to ever be completely free. In searching for one, a person may end up in a trap worse than anything he was fleeing.[/font]
William G

Slow pacing, soapy plot can't hold back solid performances, direction.