Rio de Janeiro, 1970, former congressman Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello) returns to Brazil after six years of self-exile, following the revocation of his mandate on the outset of the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état. Living in an idyllic house near Leblon beach with his wife Eunice (Fernanda Torres) and their five children, Paiva returns to his civil career while continues to support expatriates without discussing his activities with his family.
Following Swiss ambassador kidnapping by far-left revolutionary movements, Brazil faces a looming political instability. A military raid takes place in Paiva's house, resulting in his arrest and disappearance on January, 1971.
Eunice's public inquiries on Rubens whereabouts results in her arrest and torture for 12 days. Eliana (Luiza Kosovski), their teenage daughter, is also imprisoned, but is released after 24 hours. After moderate media outrage, ignited by family friends, Eunice is unofficially informed of Rubens fate.
25 years later, in 1996, Eunice receives from the Brazilian state, now a Democracy, the official Rubens Paiva's death certificate.
In 2014, during a family gathering surrounded by her children and grandchildren, the now 85 years old Eunice (Fernanda Montenegro) lives with advanced Alzheimer's. When a TV report about the National Truth Commission addresses Rubens' case, a distressed Eunice appears to remember her own past.
In May 2024, Sony Pictures Classics acquired distribution rights to I'm Still Here in North America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Turkey, Portugal, Australia and New Zealand at the Marché du Film.[3]
I'm Still Here is set to be released in France on 15 January 2025 by StudioCanal.[21] In the United States, the film received a one-week awards-qualifying run in November 2024 and is set to open in New York City and Los Angeles on 17 January 2025, before expanding to a wide release on 14 February.[22]
Reception
Box office
On its opening day in Brazil, I'm Still Here brought 50,320 people to the cinemas, grossing R$1.1 million.[23] In its first weekend, even though it was the target of a frustrated boycott by the Brazilian far-right,[24] the film debuted in first place at the box office with 358,000 admissions, earning R$8.6 million, overcoming Venom: The Last Dance third week (R$6.6 million) and Red One first weekend (R$5.3 million).[25]
I'm Still Here received overwhelming praise upon release by the public, film critics and the Brazilian and international press; praise was mainly directed to Fernanda Torres' performance.[27]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 29 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10.[28]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 79 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[29] Jessica Kiang of Variety praised the film and its dramatic charge: "Classical in form but radical in empathy, I'm Still Here arguably does not need the follow-up sections—one set in 1996 and the other in 2014—that somewhat alter the emotional rhythm. But on the other hand, these characters are so vivid that we don't want to leave them either".[30] For Wendy Ide of Screen Daily, Salles "never over-labours the film's emotional beats, relying instead on Torres' magnificent, intricately layered performance to drive the picture"; she also praised Montenegro, "who has a brief but exceptionally powerful cameo here as the elderly Eunice".[31]
Several international outlets applauded Fernanda Torres' work, with Collider considering it one of the best performances of the year, being "more than deserving of an Oscar nomination".[32] In her review for Deadline, Stephanie Bunbury describes the film as a "celebration of Brazil", and praises Torres, stating that the actress "has an emotional delicacy as Eunice that conveys, through the smallest and subtlest signals, what it costs her to hold back her anxiety and anger for the sake of her family. It is a performance that should catapult her into the awards race, 25 years after her mother Fernanda Montenegro was Oscar-nominated for Salles' breakthrough feature, Central Station".[33] David Rooney in The Hollywood Reporter highlighted the relationship between Montenegro and Torres, saying "What makes the connection even more poignant is that she appears as the elderly, infirm version of the protagonist", and recognized I'm Still Here as "a gripping, profoundly touching film with a deep well of pathos. It's one of Salles' best".[34] For IndieWire, Leila Latif says Torres' performance "is as spectacular as her filmography would suggest, having marked herself out as one of the South American continent's greatest actors in roles in Foreign Land (also directed by Salles) and won a Palme d'Or for Best Actress in Love Me Forever of Never. Her Eunice possesses phenomenal strength and stoicism which make each moment of pain that peep through the chinks of her armor all the more moving", and praised her on-screen interaction with Selton Mello.[35]
Filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón named it one of his favorite films of 2024, saying "Watching a Walter Salles film is to be embraced in generosity, is like experiencing a gravitational pull, both lifting and grounding us at the same time with an invisible yet undeniable force. With I'm Still Here, this effect is even more compelling.[36]
^[httpshttps://awardswatch.com/2024-greater-western-new-york-film-critics-association-gwnyfca-nominations/ "2024 Greater Western New York Film Critics Association (GWNYFCA) Nominations"]. AwardsWatch (in Brazilian Portuguese). 12 December 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
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