When director Walter Salles requested Brazilian actor Fernanda Torres to learn the script for “I’m Still Here,” she assumed her previous pal simply wished a second opinion. Again in 1999, Torres’ mom, the legendary star Fernanda Montenegro, had scored an Oscar nomination for Salles’ acclaimed “Central Station,” and though Torres had beforehand appeared within the director’s 1995 movie, “Foreign Land,” she has extra not too long ago been recognized for being a gifted sitcom star. “I thought I was lost to Walter,” says Torres, who was understandably elated when Salles forged her within the main function of Eunice Paiva, a mom of 5 whose husband, Rubens, is kidnapped and murdered on the peak of Brazil’s army dictatorship. Eunice places apart her grief to boost her kids, and Torres turns in a shifting efficiency that’s equal elements tamped-down feelings and loyal willpower. “That he thought of me for deep drama was a big thing for me.”
“I’m Still Here” is a real story, based mostly on a ebook by Eunice and Rubens’ son, Marcelo. Was what occurred to his father generally recognized in Brazil?
We knew the headlines; we knew that he was taken by the police and the physique by no means appeared. However no one knew the small print. And Eunice was a complete secondary character. We didn’t know that Eunice was such a robust lady. Think about that your husband was tortured, killed, reduce in items or thrown within the ocean. However on the identical time, she wasn’t allowed to take a seat, cry, really feel self-pity. She had kids and determined to not inform them what occurred. How will you inform that to a baby? She wished to avoid wasting their innocence, their religion in humanity.
Eunice was a sublime stay-at-home mother who grew to become a outstanding human rights lawyer and activist. What did your analysis let you know about her?
Her interviews have been so superb as a result of she was all the time well mannered, mild. She all the time had a smile, and on the identical time, she was so clever, rational, persuasive, very female however highly effective. And this combination of femininity, of delicacy and energy, was one thing that I used to be making an attempt [for]. I’m a lot much less elegant than she was, and I bear in mind Walter telling me, “Don’t forget the smile.” It was a key factor for her.
Usually, as an actress, you wish to present how properly you’ll be able to cry or scream or be humorous. However this character doesn’t like to point out off. She hides what she feels. And it was marvelous to find the facility of restraint.
— Fernanda Torres
Rising up, your dad and mom ran a theater firm. Do you will have recollections of how they have been affected by the authoritarian regime? I bear in mind the concern of censorship. Earlier than openings, they needed to do a present for the dictatorship, who might simply forbid the play. Certainly one of my father’s performs was a musical, an enormous manufacturing that was forbidden the day of the opening. I bear in mind the face of my father. Actually tense. You may really feel the concern. What I bear in mind of the dictatorship was to develop up in a closed nation. We didn’t talk with the remainder of the world. Then when the dictatorship ended, we have been bankrupt, and the financial disaster began within the ’80s.
How did artists emerge from that point?
Artwork was very alive. Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil got here again from exile, and have been proposing one other sort of battle, which was totally different from the take-guns-and-fight guerrilla factor of very younger individuals. They found Jamaica and Bob Marley, they usually got here again saying, “Dance, dance, dance.” That was the sort of battle of my era.
You’ve stated {that a} function like Eunice was a primary for you. How so?
Usually, as an actress, you wish to present how properly you’ll be able to cry or scream or be humorous. However this character doesn’t like to point out off. She hides what she feels. And it was marvelous to find the facility of restraint. I by no means did Greek tragedy. So to endure one thing that it’s inconceivable to deal with, to go on, to smile, to battle, to not break — it created within me such a robust fireplace, one thing that I’ve by no means skilled earlier than.
Fernanda Torres of the movie “I’m Still Here,” in Los Angeles.
(Annie Noelker/For The Instances)
What was the response when the movie acquired a 10-minute standing ovation on the Venice Movie Competition?
Brazil is such an remoted nation due to the language. We’re 200 million individuals who converse Portuguese, surrounded by the ocean and Spanish-speaking nations. In a means, we devour our personal tradition. We’re wonderful with simply ourselves. However now and again, somebody does one thing that’s understood internationally. This creates an enormous nationwide pleasure. Walter did it with “Central Station.” And once more, with this.
What about when it was launched in Brazil?
In the course of the pandemic, everyone purchased enormous tv units and stopped going to film theaters. However this movie created an urgency to see what was happening. Folks have been operating to the theaters at, like, 2 o’clock on a Tuesday. They found the film wasn’t simply buzz however one which creates a deep feeling. You’re feeling empathy for the household. You perceive that a part of historical past. And it’s about Brazil. Individuals are going to cinemas now, and on the finish individuals arise and applaud and speak concerning the film within the foyers. It grew to become a fever, and it was so stunning.