House of Sand (Casa de Areia) (2005)
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78% of critics liked it
(69 reviews) -
70% of users liked it
(7,735 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
- Directed By
- Andrucha Waddington
- Written By
- Elena Soarez
- Genres
- Art House & International, Drama
R,
- In Theaters
- Aug 11, 2006 Wide
- Studio
- Sony Pictures Classics
Critic Reviews
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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.
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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.
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Michael Booth, Denver Post
It is a wondrous place, almost of another planet, and more than compensation for the effort to get there.
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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.
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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.
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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Seu Jorge
as Massu (1910-1919)
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Luiz Melodia
as Massu (1942)
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Enrique Díaz
as Luiz (1919)
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Stênio Garcia
as Luiz (1942)
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Emiliano Querioz
as Chico do Sal
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Camilla Facundes
as Maria (1919)
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Ruy Guerra
as Vasco de Sa
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Fernanda Montenegro
as Maria (1969)
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Fernanda Torres
as Aurea
