The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmão

Two of Brazil’s best-known international film figures, RT Features’ Rodrigo Teixeira and director Karim Aïnouz, will re-team to make “The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmão.” 　　The touching tale of the life destinies of two sisters over three decades, from the late 1940s to the early 1970s, “Eurídice Gusmão” is set up at Teixeira’s Sao Paulo-based RT Features, a producer on James Schamus’ “Indignation” and Ira Sachs’ “Little Men” and a producer with Martin Scorsese on Josh and Benny Sadie’s upcoming “Uncut Gems.” 　　Aïnouz, whose stock has consistently risen since his 2002 debut, “Madame Satã,” culminating in a 2014 Berlin competition berth for the well-received “Futuro Beach,” is currently penning the script with Brazilian screenwriter and stage director Murilo Hauser. 　　A first draft of “The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão” should be ready by the end of September, with the aim of shooting in 2017, said Teixeira. 　　Aïnouz’s second movie at RT Features after 2011’s Directors’ Fortnight entry “Silver Cliff,” “The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão’ adapts the debut novel of the same title by Martha Batalha. It turns on two sisters: Eurídice, an introverted but talented young girl, and the more extrovert older sister Guida. Eurídice finds strength in Guida “to face the challenges and consequences of living in a paternalist society,” a RT Features plot summary explains. But when Guida elopes with her boyfriend, Eurídice, who wants to become a musician, is forced to fulfil her responsibilities as an only child and ideal wife, becoming locked into a loveless marriage. 　　The film looks likely to catch up with the two sisters in the early 1970s. Abandoned by her boyfriend, Guida has had to bring up their child on her own. Eurídice never becomes a musician, but does manage to write small articles for a newspaper. 　　“The book touched a nerve,” said Aïnouz. Given the importance of feminism, he added, “I thought it’d be very important to adapt something set in the past but relevant to us, tracing the past to our days.” 　　One key of the story is “access to the labor market,” denied to both sisters; another, how “women’s voices are constantly being challenged” “not only in the public arena but also the private space of the home,” Aïnouz said. 　　The Brazilian director – who cut his film teeth as a casting and editing assistant on Todd Haynes’s 1990 Sundance winner “Poison,” produced by Christine Vachon – said he would adapt “Eurídice Gusmão” as a “classic melodrama.” “Douglas Sirk’s ‘Imitation of Life’ is one of my favourite films,” he added. 　　After “Futuro Beach,” “The Invisible Life” returns Aïnouz to the femme-centric focus of much of his work, whether his first documentary “Seams,” his first and second features “Madame Satã” and “Love For Sale,” “The Silver Cliff” or his HBO Latin America TV series, “Alice.” 　　“‘The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão’ is a critique of the way men treat women. Karim Aïnouz is the perfect director to explore this social issue, creating a powerful melodrama,” said Teixeira, a member of the main international competition jury at 2016’s Locarno. 　　RT Features is looking to co-produce “Eurídice Gusmão” out of Europe, said Teixeira.