108 minutes
11/4/1994
This dark and intense drama follows the slow and painful destruction of a young, passive woman as she watches her family fall apart. Maria is the shy and dutiful daughter upon whose shoulders the family traumas have fallen. In addition to a regular job she cooks, cleans, and studies. Her parents offer no assistance as her father is blind, with a tendency towards violence when drinking. His wife, the focus of his violence is terribly unhappy. After a particularly brutal beating, Maria's brothers rise up against the father and end up leaving the home. It is up to Maria to try to bring the factions together. Maria's pressures increase after she calmly stabs her boss during an attempted rape, and then copes with her mother's suicide.
Maria de Medeiros
as Maria
Marcello Urgeghe
as Mário
Evgeniy Sidikhin
as João
Laura del Sol
as Teresa
Mireille Perrier
as The Teacher
Olimpia Carlisi
as The Mother
Luís Miguel Cintra
as Friend at the Apartment
Orlando Costa
as 1st Policeman
Io Appolloni
as Hotel Clerk
Miguel Borges
as Client
Marco Delgado
as Boy in the Disco
Pedro Cabrita Reis
as Man in the Bat
Isabel Ruth
as Voice of Mother (voice)
Laura Soveral
as Suburban Lady
Teresa Villaverde
as Voice of the Teacher (voice)
Jorge Silva
as Boss' Son
Ilda Roquete
as Girl at the Bar
Manuel Guanilho
as Funeral Home Man